Timeless
March 3, 2002 | 12:00am
Sotheby’s Ltd., the renowned auction house of London and New York fame, celebrated the opening of its first representative office in Manila last month with a gala cocktail party at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Makati.
The gentlemen guests were handsomely attired in traditional barongs or business suits and the ladies in de riguer little black cocktail dresses, a few showed a bit more daring and wore something colorful. Sotheby’s, like its celebrated rival Christie’s Ltd. also of London and New York, makes a tremendous effort to project an image of upper crust, international gentility and professionalism. Both venerable houses started business in London in the 18th century. The staff, whether in New York, London, Geneva, Hong Kong or Singapore, are usually extremely polite and accommodating.
As a young book dealer in New York some 30 years ago, my first visits to Sotheby’s on Madison Avenue were a bit intimidating. The reception desk was usually staffed by smartly dressed young ladies in tasteful cashmere sweaters and sensible cardigans speaking in crisp British or toney "mid-Atlantic" accents that made them sound rather aloof and condescending.
The in-house experts were tweedy and profes-sorial while the bidders–usually older Madison Avenue and 57th St. dealers in three-piece suits–seemed to form an elite cabal. Over the years I got used to attending the auctions and found the staff and the dealers, despite their stuffy appearances, to be genuinely friendly and ready to explain the often stressful procedures of bidding in an international auction. When pressed they were ready to share their considerable knowledge and expertise with those who came to bid or simply to view the fine art and antiques which were being put up for sale.
Over the years the staff has dropped much of its British snobbery for a more relaxed and elegantly cosmopolitan international style.
What I had first found pretentious I came to realize was simply common sense business policy on the part of the major auction houses. Many of the international art and antique dealers who work closely with them also adapt this same highly polished and sophisticated style. The auction houses and the dealers have two primary business functions. One is to attract sellers of highly important works of fine art, antiques, jewelry and residential real estate, and the other is to attract buyers who have the means to purchase the most beautiful and expensive items in the world. This requires that they cater to the tastes of high society, the very rich and especially those aspiring to wealth and social prominence. Behind the scenes a great deal of scholarly research and demanding business administration takes place but for the public they have to project an aura of cheerful high class glitz, glamor and excitement.
Sotheby’s cocktail party in Manila last month was true to form. There were experts on hand in tailored business suits to chat about the art markets and advise old clients and charm new ones. The Southeast Asian Paintings sale was soon to take place in Singapore, Fine Jewelry and East Asian Antiques were coming up in Hong Kong the following month and there were the latest results to report from European and New York sales. Champagne flowed freely and the select guests–distinguished members of the business community, museum directors, art connoisseurs, antique dealers and wealthy collectors–were handed complimentary copies of Sotheby’s beautiful sales catalogs and its glamorous in-house magazine, Preview. This features page after page of stunning spreads illustrating fine paintings, antiques, objets d’ art and jewelry which had either just been sold or were about to come up for sale. Many pages are devoted to intriguing snapshots of celebrities and society folk, from Lord Attenborough to Bianca Jagger, sipping champagne and oohing and aahing over fabulous works of art or record "prices realized".
Christie’s has been sending agents to the Philippines from Singapore and Hong Kong from time to time and holding small receptions at select hotels. Last year had been an especially unpredictable one for financial markets and in turn for the art markets, which makes it all the more admirable that Sotheby’s has taken the initiative.
Despite the superficial glitter and high society panache, both Sotheby’s and Christie’s serve a crucial function in the art and antique world and their influence in Manila will be welcome. Both houses stake their reputations on maintaining high standards of documentation and authenti-cation and on accurate reporting of prices, both estimated and realized. Mistakes are made on occasion but these are exceptions and understandable in the relatively new field of Southeast Asian painting. Even highly acclaimed academic experts do not always agree on dates and authenticity. Filipino art and antique dealers will benefit greatly from the exacting example the international auction houses are setting in improved documentation.
It will be interesting to see how the arrival of Sotheby’s in Manila and the increase in international auctions in the region will affect the Philippine art market and Filipino tastes. Over the last few years Filipino paintings have done very well in the semi-annual Singapore sales. This is a tribute to the many talented Filipino painters who have maintained an outstanding tradition of artistic excellence since the early 19th century.
Undoubtedly the star performer at recent auctions has been Anita Magsaysay-Ho whose semi-abstract, impressionistic paintings of working women have exceeded all estimates. One of her finest works, In the Marketplace dated 1955, was hotly contested by international bidders in a 1999 Christie’s Singapore auction. Fortunately, the Lopez Museum prevailed in the bidding war and the painting is now hanging in their galleries at the Benpres Building in Ortigas Center.
Other Filipino modern artists have done very well. Paintings by National Artist Arturo Luz have garnered well-deserved international attention, as have the works of Cesar Legaspi, Vincente Manansala, Fernando Zobel, Ang Kiu Kok and Ben "Bencab" Cabrera. It is especially gratifying to see a relatively young artist, such as Baguio’s Bencab who is still in his 50s, reach close to US$30,000 for a recent painting. This places him squarely in league with successful modern artists in Europe and America.
The recent popularity of international auctions is perpetuating what has traditionally, since the 19th century, been a two-tiered art market. There are many regional markets with specific local tastes and there is a high-end world market made up of major museums and rich collectors. Filipino artists who are successful in the international art world can earn disproportionately more than equally talented artists whose work appeals primarily to local tastes or is based on purely indigenous content and symbolism. The temptation for talented Filipinos to migrate to New York or Paris is great. The great danger is that some artists lose their artistic identity when they leave their Filipino environment.
This has been a conflict for national artists since the end of the 19th century when Juan Luna and Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo were winning gold and silver medals for their masterpieces in Europe. They studied the new Impressionism and the traditional Academic styles current in Europe and surpassed many of their European contem-poraries painting European subject matter. Fabian de la Rosa spent many of his active years living and working in America and Europe but remained dedicated to depicting Filipino subject matter. Hopefully, new telecommunication and inexpensive travel will make it possible for Filipino artists to maintain their indigenous roots and still access the intellectual and financial riches of the global art market as Bencab has successfully done.
Nineteenth and early 20th century Filipino painters have been doing well at auction. Last year a large canvas of women working in a rice field painted by Fabian de la Rosa in 1902 more than doubled its high estimate and sold for over US$400,000. Fabian de la Rosa and Fernando Amorsolo were the most important Filipino genre painters active in the first half of the 20th century. Despite the fact that he was very prolific and painted up to the late 1960s, Amorsolo’s paintings continue to sell very well in international auctions. His major works now sell for well over US$100,000.
The arrival of the international auction houses in the Philippine art and antique markets along with the burgeoning internet auction services will have many repercussions, some quite beneficial and others more problematic. There will be increased foreign influence on artistic style and content but also higher remuneration for artists, much better documentation and conservation of art and greater exposure for the most talented artists. There will always be the danger that national heirlooms will be sold off to foreign buyers but the reverse of this is that many national heirlooms will be rediscovered and repatriated, as was the case with Fabian de la Rosa’s Rice Planters.
Philippine ethnic artifacts, excavated pottery, Christian and animistic religious art, indigenous textiles and ornaments all sell better abroad than they do here. International auctions will exacerbate this problem for a time but Filipinos are rapidly becoming astute bidders. In the long run the Philippines will eventually become the strongest market for Philippine art. Many economically under-developed yet culturally rich countries like the Philippines, other Southeast Asian and Central American countries have been suffering from this problem for years. Sensible laws protecting national patrimony need to be enforced. It would also be extremely helpful if the national government and private donors supported the art and history museums more generously. Hopefully when the national economy improves, Filipino buyers will once again become the strongest bidders for Filipino art and antiques at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and on the internet.
The gentlemen guests were handsomely attired in traditional barongs or business suits and the ladies in de riguer little black cocktail dresses, a few showed a bit more daring and wore something colorful. Sotheby’s, like its celebrated rival Christie’s Ltd. also of London and New York, makes a tremendous effort to project an image of upper crust, international gentility and professionalism. Both venerable houses started business in London in the 18th century. The staff, whether in New York, London, Geneva, Hong Kong or Singapore, are usually extremely polite and accommodating.
As a young book dealer in New York some 30 years ago, my first visits to Sotheby’s on Madison Avenue were a bit intimidating. The reception desk was usually staffed by smartly dressed young ladies in tasteful cashmere sweaters and sensible cardigans speaking in crisp British or toney "mid-Atlantic" accents that made them sound rather aloof and condescending.
The in-house experts were tweedy and profes-sorial while the bidders–usually older Madison Avenue and 57th St. dealers in three-piece suits–seemed to form an elite cabal. Over the years I got used to attending the auctions and found the staff and the dealers, despite their stuffy appearances, to be genuinely friendly and ready to explain the often stressful procedures of bidding in an international auction. When pressed they were ready to share their considerable knowledge and expertise with those who came to bid or simply to view the fine art and antiques which were being put up for sale.
Over the years the staff has dropped much of its British snobbery for a more relaxed and elegantly cosmopolitan international style.
What I had first found pretentious I came to realize was simply common sense business policy on the part of the major auction houses. Many of the international art and antique dealers who work closely with them also adapt this same highly polished and sophisticated style. The auction houses and the dealers have two primary business functions. One is to attract sellers of highly important works of fine art, antiques, jewelry and residential real estate, and the other is to attract buyers who have the means to purchase the most beautiful and expensive items in the world. This requires that they cater to the tastes of high society, the very rich and especially those aspiring to wealth and social prominence. Behind the scenes a great deal of scholarly research and demanding business administration takes place but for the public they have to project an aura of cheerful high class glitz, glamor and excitement.
Sotheby’s cocktail party in Manila last month was true to form. There were experts on hand in tailored business suits to chat about the art markets and advise old clients and charm new ones. The Southeast Asian Paintings sale was soon to take place in Singapore, Fine Jewelry and East Asian Antiques were coming up in Hong Kong the following month and there were the latest results to report from European and New York sales. Champagne flowed freely and the select guests–distinguished members of the business community, museum directors, art connoisseurs, antique dealers and wealthy collectors–were handed complimentary copies of Sotheby’s beautiful sales catalogs and its glamorous in-house magazine, Preview. This features page after page of stunning spreads illustrating fine paintings, antiques, objets d’ art and jewelry which had either just been sold or were about to come up for sale. Many pages are devoted to intriguing snapshots of celebrities and society folk, from Lord Attenborough to Bianca Jagger, sipping champagne and oohing and aahing over fabulous works of art or record "prices realized".
Christie’s has been sending agents to the Philippines from Singapore and Hong Kong from time to time and holding small receptions at select hotels. Last year had been an especially unpredictable one for financial markets and in turn for the art markets, which makes it all the more admirable that Sotheby’s has taken the initiative.
Despite the superficial glitter and high society panache, both Sotheby’s and Christie’s serve a crucial function in the art and antique world and their influence in Manila will be welcome. Both houses stake their reputations on maintaining high standards of documentation and authenti-cation and on accurate reporting of prices, both estimated and realized. Mistakes are made on occasion but these are exceptions and understandable in the relatively new field of Southeast Asian painting. Even highly acclaimed academic experts do not always agree on dates and authenticity. Filipino art and antique dealers will benefit greatly from the exacting example the international auction houses are setting in improved documentation.
It will be interesting to see how the arrival of Sotheby’s in Manila and the increase in international auctions in the region will affect the Philippine art market and Filipino tastes. Over the last few years Filipino paintings have done very well in the semi-annual Singapore sales. This is a tribute to the many talented Filipino painters who have maintained an outstanding tradition of artistic excellence since the early 19th century.
Undoubtedly the star performer at recent auctions has been Anita Magsaysay-Ho whose semi-abstract, impressionistic paintings of working women have exceeded all estimates. One of her finest works, In the Marketplace dated 1955, was hotly contested by international bidders in a 1999 Christie’s Singapore auction. Fortunately, the Lopez Museum prevailed in the bidding war and the painting is now hanging in their galleries at the Benpres Building in Ortigas Center.
Other Filipino modern artists have done very well. Paintings by National Artist Arturo Luz have garnered well-deserved international attention, as have the works of Cesar Legaspi, Vincente Manansala, Fernando Zobel, Ang Kiu Kok and Ben "Bencab" Cabrera. It is especially gratifying to see a relatively young artist, such as Baguio’s Bencab who is still in his 50s, reach close to US$30,000 for a recent painting. This places him squarely in league with successful modern artists in Europe and America.
The recent popularity of international auctions is perpetuating what has traditionally, since the 19th century, been a two-tiered art market. There are many regional markets with specific local tastes and there is a high-end world market made up of major museums and rich collectors. Filipino artists who are successful in the international art world can earn disproportionately more than equally talented artists whose work appeals primarily to local tastes or is based on purely indigenous content and symbolism. The temptation for talented Filipinos to migrate to New York or Paris is great. The great danger is that some artists lose their artistic identity when they leave their Filipino environment.
This has been a conflict for national artists since the end of the 19th century when Juan Luna and Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo were winning gold and silver medals for their masterpieces in Europe. They studied the new Impressionism and the traditional Academic styles current in Europe and surpassed many of their European contem-poraries painting European subject matter. Fabian de la Rosa spent many of his active years living and working in America and Europe but remained dedicated to depicting Filipino subject matter. Hopefully, new telecommunication and inexpensive travel will make it possible for Filipino artists to maintain their indigenous roots and still access the intellectual and financial riches of the global art market as Bencab has successfully done.
Nineteenth and early 20th century Filipino painters have been doing well at auction. Last year a large canvas of women working in a rice field painted by Fabian de la Rosa in 1902 more than doubled its high estimate and sold for over US$400,000. Fabian de la Rosa and Fernando Amorsolo were the most important Filipino genre painters active in the first half of the 20th century. Despite the fact that he was very prolific and painted up to the late 1960s, Amorsolo’s paintings continue to sell very well in international auctions. His major works now sell for well over US$100,000.
The arrival of the international auction houses in the Philippine art and antique markets along with the burgeoning internet auction services will have many repercussions, some quite beneficial and others more problematic. There will be increased foreign influence on artistic style and content but also higher remuneration for artists, much better documentation and conservation of art and greater exposure for the most talented artists. There will always be the danger that national heirlooms will be sold off to foreign buyers but the reverse of this is that many national heirlooms will be rediscovered and repatriated, as was the case with Fabian de la Rosa’s Rice Planters.
Philippine ethnic artifacts, excavated pottery, Christian and animistic religious art, indigenous textiles and ornaments all sell better abroad than they do here. International auctions will exacerbate this problem for a time but Filipinos are rapidly becoming astute bidders. In the long run the Philippines will eventually become the strongest market for Philippine art. Many economically under-developed yet culturally rich countries like the Philippines, other Southeast Asian and Central American countries have been suffering from this problem for years. Sensible laws protecting national patrimony need to be enforced. It would also be extremely helpful if the national government and private donors supported the art and history museums more generously. Hopefully when the national economy improves, Filipino buyers will once again become the strongest bidders for Filipino art and antiques at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and on the internet.
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