PROPERTY FROM THE LOIDA NICOLAS LEWIS COLLECTION
Harvest
signed and dated 2000 (lower right)
oil on canvas
24" x 18" (61 cm x 46 cm)






WRITE UP:
Many of Benedicto Cabrera’s women evoke a certain brand of nostalgia that is derived from old sepia photographs. From his portrayal of indigenous women in their butterfly-sleeved dresses to his iconic portrait of the vagrant Sabel, Bencab presents a classic image of Filipino women that spans the almost 60 years he’d spent as an artist. His 2000 Harvest is another iteration of Bencab’s women. Dressed in a bright yellow dress, light denim pants, and a warm blue shawl, the woman holds in her hands a bundle of harvested grains. In a 1978 interview with Cid Reyes, Bencab indulged in his hesitance on using bright colors, stating, “I have always been partial to dark colors and lots and lots of sienna…I just cannot make a good color combination with colors like yellow, orange, and red.” However, the past twenty years seem to have favored Bencab and Peasant Woman portrays his works in a different warmer light. She is far from the tortured Sabel – her relaxed posture and serene smile put her at odds with the frenetic and frantic Sabel – but she contains her archetype with her layers and layers of flowing clothes. Alice Guillermo once wrote in 2007 that the Sabel series is the quintessential Ben Cabrera and while Harvest is not Sabel, it still features Bencab at his finest. Through his innate sense of colors and lyrical composition, this work joins the prestigious ranks of Bencab’s Filipino women. (Hannah Valiente)