By The River
signed and dated 1916 (lower right)
oil on board
13” x 9” (33 cm x 23 cm)

Leon Gallery wishes to thank Mrs. Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo for confirming the authenticity of this lot

Provenance:
Private Collection, Manila

Fernando Amorsolo was 17 when he enrolled at the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts, where his uncle taught. Amorsolo was still a student in the UP when he did this landscape from 1916, the same year that he married Salud Jorge. During his college days, he was influenced by the works of the Spanish painter Diego Velasquez and other European painters such as Sargent, Zorn, Sorolla and Zuloaga. He was one of the school’s first graduates in 1919, receiving several medals for excellence.

Paintings from the World War 1 era, such as this, already foretold why Fernando Amorsolo would become such a formidable influence from the prewar years, and beyond that even his younger brother Pablo had made a conscious effort not to imitate him.

Their delicacy takes the awesome majesty of the trees and renders them intimate and somehow, slightly melancholic.

It would not be typical of the landscapes that Amorsolo would paint from the 1920s on. The thick, yet delicately willowy leaves contrast with the blue sky creating a convincing illusion of spatial depth and physicality.

There is a broad sophistication of technique and vigor of execution that bespeak spontaneous work carried to completion in a single setting. The brilliant effects of this painting are a showcase for a very young Amorsolo’s early mastery of technique.

The breadth of Amorsolo’s execution of the trees dominates the details in order to contribute to the painting’s plein air energy — the countrywoman depicted seems like an afterthought, although it is one of the master’s earliest depictions of his backlighting technique. And interestingly, there is a certain fluidity in his depiction of the distant woman which can also be seen in his lone contributed figurative illustration in Philippine Craftsman magazine (1912-1915).

While a student during the World War 1 era, Amorsolo did illustrations for various publications, like Severino Reyes’ first novel, “Parusa ng Diyos.”

Amorsolo records the otherwise bucolic vistas with overflowing primal enthusiasm. His trees’ almost always sweeping gestural rhythms creating atmosphere — the quality of yielding translucence intrinsic to a plant.

Such a spatial quality suggest of the capacity to move around or through a natural pictorial scene is part of its appeal, deepened by Amorsolo’s feel for tonal beauty. These must have been the visual sensations that entrepreneur Enrique Zobel de Ayala felt upon seeing Amorsolo’s works, that in 1916, the same year that this painting was executed, he gave Amorsolo a grant to visit Spain, Europe and the United States.