PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF EDITH O’FARRELL

Mi Madre
dated 1902 (lower left)
oil on canvasboard
25” x 19” (64 cm x 48 cm)

Gaston O’Farrell led an interesting and charmed life. To the manor born, and coming from a prominent lineage of Irish and French descent, he began his art lessons at the age of eight at the Escuela de Artes Y Oficios and private lessons from Felix Martinez. At the age of fifteen, O’Farrell was able to cultivate a life-long friendship with Juan Luna who stood as his mentor. In 1896 he and Luna travelled to Japan together, spending their time there towards pursuing their art. While there, Luna would produce some twenty paintings with Gaston closely by his side, instilling in him his color palettes as well as the standards of proper proportion and perspective. No one else had the opportunity to be tutored by Luna; thus, as an artist, Gaston quickly imbibed Luna’s style and genius.

It is said that O’Farell never gave up on art, even if it meant a meager income and sacrificing his affluent status in life. (coming from the landed Tuason clan he was a descendant of Son Tua, a wealthy Chinese trader who was awarded a large “encomienda” land grant by the Spaniards) Instead, he painted to no end, consorting with his fellow artists from the Asosacion Internacional de Artistas Filipinos.

Among the awards he received: bronze at the St. Louis Exposition, 1904; Bronze, Panama-Pacific Exposition, 1915.

In 1908, he received the Bronze medal from the Asociasion Internacional, for this poignant and haunting portrait of a lady who in fact is his French mother, at that time newly widowed.