Lot 368
  • 368

Antonio Blanco

Estimate
1,200,000 - 1,800,000 HKD
bidding is closed

Description

  • Antonio Blanco
  • Mother and Child
  • Signed
  • Oil on canvas
  • 95 by 68 cm.; 37 1/4 by 26 3/4 in.
  • Executed CIRCA 1964, the work is accompanied with the artist's original frame.

Provenance

Collection of the Blanco Museum, Bali

Literature

D.H. Dhaimeler, Fabulous Blanco: Antonio Blanco His Life His Works His Dreams , The Blanco Fine Arts Foundation, Ubud, Indonesia, 1990, p.124

Condition

The work is in good condition overall, as is the canvas, which is clear and taut. Upon close observation, there is evidence of light wear and handling around the edges of the painting, along with very faint networks of craquelures predominantly on the top left corner (white paint) and the center. Examination under ultraviolet light shows no sign of restoration. Framed, in the artist's original frame.
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Catalogue Note

As one of the most famous foreign painters who made Bali home, Antonio Blanco was Spanish by birth and received education in the Philippines and America.  He believed that his Spanish roots linked him to the artists Joan Miró and Salvador Dali, both geographically and spiritually.

The subject matter of Mother And Child is extremely rare among his artist peers. For most ‘Euro-Indo’ artists such as Le Mayeur and Theo Meier painted the Balinese landscapes with women weaving, dancing, offering or engaging in traditional ceremonies.  The present work, as the title suggests, depicts a Balinese mother embracing her baby. The composition brings to mind the legacy of the icon, which harks back to the European tradition of Madonna and Child paintings.

More interestingly, the subject matter is in fact, a gentle divorce from Blanco’s favorite theme of women typically modeled by his muse and wife Ni Ronji. While the quick impressionistic brushwork suggests the silhouette of a woman, the focus of the painting is undeniably the baby in the forefront. In comparison to the mother, the child is deliberately executed in much greater details whose features are more defined. The intimate composition suggests that the work could be painted shortly after the baby was born. Moreover, the artful manner in which Blanco rendered the figures, while expressing the unconditional motherly love and the intense connections with the newborn distinguished his unparalleled talents among his peers at the time. The interplay of loose brushstrokes with the negative space is most beautifully displayed in Mother And Child. Together with the vibrant colours, the modeling of space as well as the bold painterly strokes, the present work emphasizes the vitality of the baby. Henceforth, Mother And Child is indeed Blanco’s tribute towards motherhood and his joy of having a child.