Vicente Manansala, Ang Kiu Kok, Romulo Olazo, Latiff Mohidin etc.
By A&M

Vicente Silva Manansala, ‘Bone’, 1967, oil on board, 91.5 x 122cm. Image courtesy of Bonhams.

Bonhams will hold its Modern and Contemporary Art sale in Hong Kong on 25 November 2019. Totaling 65 lots primarily of Asian modern art, highlights include works from Indian artists Sayed Haider Raza and M F Husain, Japanese artists Masaaki Yamada and Susumu Koshimizu and Taiwanese artists Liu Kuo Sung and Richard Lin. Featured for the first time in a Bonhams Modern and Contemporary Art sale are Philippine and Malaysian modern artists Vicente Manansala, H R Ocampo, Ang Kiu Kok, Jose Joya and Romulo Olazo; and Latiff Mohidin and Ibrahim Hussein.

The sale has expanded to include currently undervalued artists who will appeal to discerning collectors, and is part of the auction house’s continued efforts to build pan-Asian sales in Hong Kong. "Our upcoming sale presents a broad spectrum of Asian post-war and avant-garde art, with the aim to further the boundaries of both art history and its market to include previously undervalued artists,” says Dorothy Lin, Specialist Head of Sale for Bonhams Modern and Contemporary Art, Asia.

Sayed Haider Raza, ‘La Terre (The Earth)’, 1983, acrylic on canvas, 90 x 90cm. Image courtesy of Bonhams.

A star lot is ‘La Terre (The Earth)’ (1983) by Indian post-war artist Sayed Haider Raza, estimated at HKD2,500,000 to HKD3,500,000. Raza was co-founder of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group, who rejected the influence of European realism to embrace Indian history and culture in art-making. While Raza began living and working in France from his Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts days in the 1950s, he returned frequently to India throughout his life. From 1980, he began to use the bindu, the Sanskrit word meaning point or dot, from which all life begins. He once said, “My work is my own inner experience and involvement with the mysteries of nature and form which is expressed in colour, line, space and light.” In ‘La Terre’, we see the bindu at the centre of the canvas from which glimpses of life in shades of green yellow, orange and brown radiate.

Other highlight lots are Japanese artists Masaaki Yamada's ‘Work C.234’ (estimate: HKD150,000 – 250,000) and Mono-ha artist Susumu Koshimizu’s ‘Water-Float-Vessel - Ishitsuri (Fishing of Stone)’ (HKD140,000 - 220,000). Of note are also Taiwanese post-war artists Liu Kuo-Sung's ‘In Yellow Light’ (HKD280,000 – 480,000) and Ho Kan's ‘90-6’ (HKD50,000 – 80,000). Two works by British-Taiwanese artist Richard Lin will also appear at auction for the first time. These are ‘14 May 1959’ (1959) (HKD1,800,000 – 2,500,000) and ‘Cadmium Green’ (1974) (HKD1,700,000 – 2,200,000).

Ang Kiu Kok, ‘Seated Figure’, 1979, oil on board, 61.1 x 23cm. Image courtesy of Bonhams.

Bonhams is offering for the first time a fuller selection of modern Philippine art in its Modern and Contemporary Art sale. The auction house has usually only handled the works of pioneering Philippine realist painter Fernando Amorsolo. It fetched the current record price for the artist at HKD4,975,625 for ‘Maiden with Fruits’ (1930) at its Ritual + Culture sale in March earlier this year. In the upcoming sale, works by Vicente Manansala, H R Ocampo, Ang Kiu Kok, Jose Joya and Romulo Olazo areoffered. All five artists exhibited widely during their lifetime. The Manansala and Ocampo works have come from private collections in the United States, the Joya was originally from France and the work by Ang formerly from the collection of a notable Taiwanese artist who acquired it from one of Ang’s exhibitions in Taiwan.

This generation of Philippine artists was plugged in to international sensibilities and trends of the post-war period. Known for his pioneering style of transparent cubism, Manansala created in ‘Bone’ (1967) (estimate: HKD600,000 – 800,000) a tessellation of geometric shapes in earthy tones of brown and mauve, contrasting harmoniously with milky pearl white. The work was inspired by his observations of nature, particularly from time spent in Banff and Montreal in Canada. Another iconic work is ‘Diaphanous #260’ (1981) (HKD120,000 – 180,000) by Romulo Olazo, from his definitive ‘Diaphanous’ series of abstract explorations that spanned four decades. Rounding up the section is Ang’s ‘Seated Figure’ (1979) (estimate: HKD220,000 – 320,000), an evocative skeletal figure the artist has returned to time and again in visceral portrayals of anguish.

Romulo Olazo, ‘Diaphanous #260’, 1981, oil on canvas laid on board, 61 x 76.2cm. Image courtesy of Bonhams.

Included in the sale are also well-known Malaysian artists Ibrahim Hussein and Latiff Mohidin, whose works can be found in key institutional and private collections in Malaysia. Malaysian abstraction is more expressionist than geometric. ‘South of the River (From the Exile of Li-Po)’ (2005) (HKD300,000 – 400,000) from Mohidin’s ‘Voyage’ series is one such example, where the artist’s energy surge from deep within him onto the canvas. It was created in homage to the Chinese literary figure Li Bai, who would stoically write poetry when he was cast into exile. This brings to mind Latiff’s first poetry anthology published in 1979, whose subject, the Mekong River, is further linked to the focus in this work.

Latiff Mohidin, ‘South of the River (From the Exile of Li-Po)’, 2005, oil on canvas, 159 x 159cm. Image courtesy of Bonhams.

For more information, visit the Bonhams Modern and Contemporary Art site here for more details, including access to the sale catalogue.

The preview takes place at Bonhams Hong Kong from 21 November to 25 November, daily from 10am to 6pm, except on the day of the sale, when viewing ends at 2pm. The sale begins at 2pm on 25 November.

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