ROMEO VILLALVA TABUENA (Philippines, 1921- Mexico, 2015).
Untitled.
Mixed media (oil and sand) and canvas.
Slight restorations barely perceptible.
Signed in the lower central area.
Size: 34 x 23 cm; 48 x 37,5 cm (frame).
Child portrait in which the author presents the bust of a young girl who turns her face diverting the spectator's attention. The forms have been synthesised into pure geometric lines and flat fields of colour that make up this portrait. However, the tonalities and the effect of the sand in the composition distance it from the rigidity of geometry, giving it a naïve and innocent finish, which was common in Tabuena's works, an example of which is the "Portrait of a Girl with pink bows", painted by the author in 1964 and which is very similar to the present work.
In 1955, Tabuena settled in Mexico, although he retained his Filipino citizenship. During this period he painted the mural Filipiniana at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. In 1965, he participated in the Eighth São Paulo Art Biennial as an official Filipino artist and as an art commissioner from the Philippines. The Honolulu Museum of Art has his painting Carabao, which is typical of the artist's animal paintings. His major works include: Art Expo in New York City; Solo exhibition at Gallerie Bleue in Manila, Philippines Solo exhibition at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City; participation in the VII Bienal de São Paulo as official Filipino artist and Philippine art commissioner, and at the Tere Haas Gallery in Mexico City; Instituto de Bellas Artes in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; and 10-year retrospective exhibition at the Art Gallery of the Philippines with the publication of illustrative monographs. He also participated in the exhibition El Nigromante at the Mexican Institute of Fine Arts in celebration of 30 years of artistic life in Mexico, and in October 1995, a major exhibition sponsored by the Instituto de Bellas Artes, Centro Cultural Ignacio for his 40 years of residence and dedication to the artistic life of Mexico was held at the Mexican artists' colony in Guanajuato. A similar exhibition in his honour was launched in November 1996 in Mexico in cooperation with the Embassy of the Philippines.
Throughout his career he has been awarded several prizes and mentions, among them the Golden Centaur Award of the Accademia Italia, Master of Painting honoris cause of the International Seminar of Modern Art, Bannierre Europeanne des Artes, and Medaglia al Mérito of the International Parliament.