HR Ocampo (1911 - 1978)
Signed and dated (lower left)
1945
Oil on canvas
11" x 13 1/2" (27.94cm x 34.29cm)
Acquired directly from the artist thence by descent
Private collection, USA
Acquired from the above by the present owner
The period of 1945 to 1963 in the artistic life of HR Ocampo, otherwise known as his transitional period, was one that was marked by an outburst of creativity and inspiration, as his works exhibited a bigger penchant for abstraction and stylization, and his style was clearly more developed and mature.
“Hat Weavers”, produced in 1945, shows this maturity in his art, where a traditional image of women hat weavers is rendered in a more abstract form: the face is indistinguishable and the limbs are more abstract in execution.
The painting was acquired directly by Colonel John DeLong from HR Ocampo. Col. DeLong was stationed in the Philippines during World War II and assigned at the Muntinlupa Prison in charge of prisoner assignments. It was in the summer of 1945 that Col. DeLong met HR Ocampo and acquired a total of 15 works- drawings and paintings- to which this work is one of them. The painting was inherited by his daughter, Suzanne, in San Diego, California.