Salcedo Auctions concludes its 15th anniversary celebration, with Under the Tree: Wish List, a marquee sale led by exceptional works from artists whose practices were influenced by the great European art schools in Europe or whose experiences as expatriates shaped their practice.
At the forefront is Félix Martínez’s La Jota Manileña. Previously titled as Village Scene, The Philippines when it resurfaced in Stockholm, the 1886 painting now returns to Manila in what is regarded as one of the most significant recent rediscoveries in Philippine art.
Martínez, an accomplished contemporary of Juan Luna and Felix Ressurrecion Hidalgo, blended the academic traditions of Europe — first, through his studies under the Spanish Dominicans at the University of Santo Tomas and later serving as a professor at the La Escuela Práctica Profesional de Artes y Oficios de Manila -- with an intimate, luminous vision of Filipino life.
Where his peers tackled grand historical themes, Martínez devoted himself to village scenes animated by everyday imagery: market women, families along the riverbank, and dancers caught in mid-step. His works reveal not a colonial subject, but a nation vividly alive.
Complementing this rediscovery are masterworks by artists shaped by the artistic trends of Paris and beyond. Oscar Zalameda, Alfonso Ossorio and Macario Vitalis each absorbed European modernism. Ossorio’s 1950 encounter with Jean Dubuffet in Paris introduced him to art brut, inspiring the creation of his celebrated congregations —assemblages of shells, bones, toys and found objects that express both spirituality and freedom. Vitalis, trained at the Académie de Montmartre, was influenced by encounters with Pablo Picasso and other leading figures. Zalameda sharpened his visual vocabulary at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Sorbonne, grounding his later works in the classical style.
The sale also features works by Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, whose scholarship in Madrid and later immersion in Barcelona led to his prominent rise in European art circles. Influenced by cubism and the innovations of Picasso, Braque, Cézanne and Matisse, Alcuaz earned honors in France, from national institutions and international artistic societies.
Rounding out this constellation is Fernando Zóbel’s masterwork, En Conde de Ibarra III (from his Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings 1946-1984), whose extended periods in Spain allowed him to refine his signature synthesis of Asian sensibilities and the European conceptual approach.
Salcedo Auctions ‘Under the Tree: Wish List’ sale is presented with Exclusive Bank Partner UnionBank Elite. The auction takes place on Saturday, 29 November, with a 10 a.m. Morning Sale (online auction), and a 2 p.m. Afternoon Sale (live and online auction), at NEX Tower, 6786 Ayala Avenue, Makati City. View the catalogue and register to bid at salcedoauctions.com.