Mother and Child
signed and dated 1991 (lower right)
pastel on paper
19 1/2" x 12 1/2" (50 cm x 32 cm)

Accompanied by a certificate issued by Mr. Alexander Richard Joya Baldovino confirming the authenticity of this lot
PROVENANCEPrivate collection, Manila



The first among equals, Jose Joya’s occasional foray into the figurative portrays a different side of the artist past his abstractions. His drawings and sketches not only show his mastery of line and form but also his predisposition for the proletarian. “[Nothing] has ever fascinated me as much as run-down structures like barong-barongs, rugged landscapes, nudes of both sexes and all ages, as well as costumed country folk,” says Joya in his monograph Joya by Joya: Book of Drawings.Painted in 1991, Joya’s Mother and Child shows the artist’s fascination for the common folk. He indigenized the often Western vision for the mother and child, turning the commonly light-skinned pair into a scene washed in warm brown reminiscent of the subject’s supple skin. The mother's humble baro't saya denotes a simple barrio living, recontextualizing the ethereal version of the mother and child into the “humble and downtrodden” as Joya himself puts it. (Hannah Valiente)