Cory painting fetches P.8 M

MANILA, Philippines - Alongside the works of masters and acclaimed artists like Juan Luna and Fernando Amorsolo, Anita Magsaysay Ho, Malang, Ang Kiu Kok and Bencab, a relatively diminutive painting by the late former President Corazon Aquino stood tall at an art auction yesterday, fetching P800,000 at the renowned Leon Gallery in Makati. Gallery owner Jaime Ponce de Leon said it was a “first” for a painting of the former president.

The untitled 11 x 11” oil on wood, signed by the former president in 1996, was a gift from Mrs. Aquino to the seller, who remains unknown. The opening bid on the painting, featuring two vases of predominantly orange flowers, was P120,000.

This is perhaps the biggest assembly of very important works in a single sale for Leon Gallery, De Leon said. The importance of the works is matched by the provenances from where the collections came from, such as Don Alfonso Ongpin, Don Anselmo Trinidad, Don Luis Ma. Araneta and Alejandro Roces.

Mrs. Aquino donated her paintings to charity auctions twice: to a fundraising for breast cancer patients and to a campaign to preserve the endangered Philippine eagle.

Mrs. Aquino turned to painting after her presidency, finding it therapeutic. She took painting lessons under Jeffrey Consumo, and gave her paintings as gifts to friends and relatives.

Kris Aquino once said her mother, “ was always a very ‘personalized’ type of friend, she wanted the recipient of her work to know just how much she valued and appreciated them.”

Her eldest daughter Ballsy Cruz told a press forum recently that her mother once gave a painting to the Sultan of Brunei, telling him she did not know what to give a man, “who has everything.” She also gave paintings to tycoon Manny Pangilinan and to STAR president and CEO Miguel Belmonte.

At the forum, Ballsy also recalled that her mother was at first hesitant about picking up the brush, saying, “How can I paint when I cannot even draw?”

But under the tutelage of Consumo, and in the company of friends, she blossomed into a prolific artist, painting flowers in vibrant and vivid colors and in different media — canvass, wood, stone, even on handbags.

She would humbly tell friends, “It (her painting) may not look anything now, but when I die my name might mean something…”

The country’s first woman president and Time’s Person of the Year awardee in 1986 took up painting lessons under Consumo in 1996. She never missed a session of Consumo’s once-a-week class until 1998. Her very first painting, dated April 1996, went to her eldest grandchild, Justin Benigno “Jiggy” Cruz on his birthday in October 1997. Her last painting is probably the one she left still mounted on an easel in her studio in her Times St. home, dated February 2009.

STAR columnist Mons Romulo, one of the organizers of the March 2008 Pink for Life charity auction, once recalled Mrs. Aquino’s generosity in an interview.

“President Cory had just been diagnosed with cancer at the time and I had second thoughts about asking her if she wanted to donate a painting to the auction. But I sent her a letter of request just the same. We were happy that in spite of her health problems, she still wanted to reach out to others in need,” said Romulo. That 2 x 3 ft. painting raised P500,000 for charity.

Mrs. Aquino’s children were not previously aware that one of their mother’s paintings would be sold in yesterday’s auction.