Sabungero
signed and dated 1951 (lower left)
oil on canvas
18 1/4" x 22 1/4" (46 cm x 57 cm)
Accompanied by a certificate issued by Mrs. Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo confirming the authenticity of this lot

PROVENANCEPrivate collection, Edward J. Nell, USA



One can argue that the illustrious life and career of Fernando Amorsolo is highly intertwined with that of the pre-war Philippines. Meek and mild-mannered, it is hard to believe that Amorsolo led an artistic movement that became the standard that many generations of artists hold themselves to, either to uphold or dismantle. By the 1950s, the Amorsolo School had weathered the constant pushback of Philippine modernism. The classical realism of Amorsolo has been tempered by the horrors of the war – the idyllic pasture of the Philippine countryside no longer becomes appealing to many of the newer artists who have witnessed the war’s atrocities. It is dated, they said, given the current climate. But Amorsolo persevered. With the exception of his darker World War II-era paintings, he went straight back to capturing the pastoral Philippines in his famed Amorsolo light. His usual muses found themselves back onto his canvases – his dalagas bathed in the golden yellow sunlight, his vendors back to selling their wares. An intense sense of nostalgia penetrates his post-war works, made heavier by the knowledge that the Philippines underwent such atrocities in the war, a fact Amorsolo became intimately familiar with as he saw firsthand the Battle of Manila. His 1951 Sabungero shows no sign of the war period angst that enveloped Amorsolo’s 1940s pieces. Here, he focused on a specific rural aspect of the Philippines: cockfighting. Cockfights are major social functions in the barrios of the Philippines, going far back to pre-colonial Philippines when Antonio Pigafetta recorded it during Magellan’s 1521 expedition. The first wave of Filipinos arriving in Hawaii brought cockfighting into the foreign land, so beloved was this sport for the Filipinos. Amorsolo’s Sabungero depicts the titular sabungero (or the cockfight bettors) holding his best rooster. He seems to be inspecting the animal, checking for injuries or defects that might hinder him during the upcoming fight. Cockfighting is emblematic of the quintessential Filipino traits. It is a social event, a gathering recognized and awaited by most. When the roosters meet, it becomes a battle not just between the animals themselves but the bettors who had gambled their hard-earned money on their favored competitor. The Filipino pride and ego are on the line fuelled even further by the adrenaline of the brutal fight. However, in his Sabungero, Amorsolo depicts not the deadly fight but the tranquil start of it. Gone are the frantic movements of the roosters that many artists choose to focus on; instead, Amorsolo portrays the quiet and loving relationship of the farmer and his fowl. For Filipino sabungeros, their roosters are much more than fighting machines – they are part of the family, as beloved as their children. These animals are well taken care of and Amorsola perfectly encapsulates that on his canvas. There is no denying Amorsolo’s longevity in Philippine art history. His works evoke the ordinary and daily life of the rural Philippines, suffused in his trademark light. His impact was cemented even further when he was posthumously conferred the National Artist Award in 1972, the distinction’s first awardee. (Hannah Valiente)