On the Way Home
signed and dated 1945 (lower right)
oil on canvas
12" x 16" (30 cm x 41 cm)

León Gallery wishes to thank Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo for confirming the authenticity of this lot.
PROVENANCE: Finale Art File, Makati City



A RETURN TO PEACE AND HAPPINESS by LISA GUERRERO NAKPILAmorsolo would define the good, the true, and the beautiful for the ‘Peacetime’ Filipino — a quaint term for the idyllic period before the horrors, fire and brimstone of World War II. He would singlehandedly invent the idea of farmers tilling their rice fields, maidens bathing in brooks, mothers tending to noonday meals or washing their linen. He would go from strength to strength, painting tirelessly; and would illustrate commonwealth textbooks and an endless stream of magazine covers. Amorsolo would animate the Manila Carnival but also paint historical allegories for French expositions. Like his ancestors — Simon Flores and Fabian de la Rosa — he would create indelible vistas of the Philippines. In the 1930s, he would be selected to provide murals for Juan Arellano’s Art Deco elegant monolith, the Metropolitan Theater, and also to represent the country at the New York World’s Fair. In 1938, he would succeed his uncle de la Rosa as head of the School of Fine Arts of the University of the Philippines. It would be a perfect time that would be shattered in 1941. The man who would tirelessly pursue beauty, however, would not be able to unsee the War. For the tortured duration of World War II, Amorsolo would watch his beloved city of Manila torn to shreds, engulfed bit by bit by flames and bombs, witnessing fleeing families tormented by crazed soldiers. His daughter Sylvia would recount that he would send them to safer quarters elsewhere since the family home was across a police station that was eventually turned into a Japanese garrison. He would follow the horrific news of each day maniacally, amassing a huge collection of newspaper clippings and memorabilia. One senses that these became the fodder, perhaps a therapeutic balm to what ailed his soul at the sight of these outrages. He would paint dutifully every day, according to his daughter, adamant that he would never forget the sights not matter how cruel. Finally, and miraculously like the rest of the Philippines, Amorsolo emerged on the other side of the fiery, impossible crucible. He had survived. The work at hand, On the Way Home, painted in 1945, expresses the relief of a man who had lost all hope — but had found it again. Husband and wife traverse a golden field. The woman carries a basket, symbolizing a season of plenty, a harvest. They travel unafraid and undeterred. They painting is rife with all the symbolisms of Filipino life — a steadfast father, wearing a farmer’s straw hat, the comely mother, by his side and true. They sit astride a strong water buffalo, their faces obscured to embody everyman; they are painted in exuberant splashes of color. Amorsolo was painting quickly and briskly, in a spirit of triumph. They are honest country folk, on their way home at last to both purity and happiness. The pink skies above them herald a return to a golden age and the dawn, at last, of a new day.