Harvest Time
signed and d date d 1960 (lower right)
oil on canvas
20" x 26" (51 cm x 66 cm)
Accompanied by a certificate issued by Mrs. Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazoconfirming the authenticity of this lot
PROVENANCEPrivate Collection, USA


Fernando Amorsolo's 'Rice Cycle' paintings represent chapters in the maestro's life and career where he was most inextricably bonded to the immaculate spirit of his motherland. The evocative underpinnings of the 'Rice Cycle' works trace their roots to the artist's nostalgic childhood in Daet, Camarines Norte. Seven months after the infant Amorsolo was born, his family moved to the humble town, where he spent the first thirteen years of his life, which were also possibly his most exuberant years. There, the young Amorsolo would often witness farmers and other agricultural workers engaging in the laborious yet vital role of feeding the nation. Thus, he would recurrently paint these images during his golden period from the 1920s to the early 1940s. However, the Second World War damaged the morale of the people. During that turbulent period, artists, including Amorsolo, chose to depict suffering, torment, and death on their canvases. Sweetness turned to bleakness. Gone now are the days of yore, where peace and the spirit of hope for a self-determined future under the banner of a sovereign nation prevailed. The post-war years were a period of rehabilitation. Artists like Amorsolo felt the need to uplift the despondent spirits of the people. With Amorsolo's post-war paintings of the rice cycle, he engenders the people's collective memory of the pre-war era. The smiling woman, with all of the sun's radiance softly caressing her face, alludes to an ingrained optimism that penetrates through the center of our shared sensibilities. The illuminated landscape that seems to come out of an impressionist scene evokes a promising end waiting for the traumatized and grieving nation. Amorsolo's works are not merely reflections of the Filipino soul but contain evocative underpinnings of a bygone era. Thus, Amorsolo's artistic practice of painting sweetness is a deliberate decision that hopes to preserve a divine-like image of his beloved nation before the war wreaked havoc on the collective psyche of its people. However, it is also crucial to note that Amorsolo's depictions of the countryside are best understood with discerning eyes. These works do not solely act as nostalgic catharsis for Amorsolo. He aims to stir the people's consciousness of their current conditions. With the human figures in his canvases showing the strength of collective work, Amorsolo was imbued with a keen perception of responsibility—that it is through collective action and a profound grasp of our history that our nation could gradually progress towards healing the wounds of its brutal past. (A.M.)