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Two-Pronged Aguilar Alcuaz Celebration at Galerie Joaquin on Wednesday, June 6
Artist Turns 75 Years of Age
Aguilar Alcuaz Works Fetch Record Prices at Auction
Internationally renowned artist Federico Aguilar Alcuaz 75th birthday anniversary will be celebrated with a major exhibit of various works of the artist at Galerie Joaquin Main. It will feature works from the collection of the artist himself and the collection of the artist’s family several of which were sourced from Germany.
The exhibit is slated to open on the birthday of the maestro on Wednesday, June 6, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. is titled simply "Federico Aguilar Alcuaz" and will run until June 20, 2007. It will showcase 68 paintings done by the artist since the 1950s to the 1990s. The exhibit contains works done by the artist on different themes and subjects. It includes some of the abstract works and "trilogues" that the artist has come to be known for in numerous international auctions. It also includes several tapestries which he did in Brno, Czechoslovakia in the 1980s, his panoramic landscapes and cityscapes, nudes, self portraits, sketches and drawings.
Galerie Joaquin is located at 371 P. Guevarra St., corner Montessori Lane, Addition Hills, San Juan. Tel. 7239418 or 7239253. Website: www.galeriejoaquin.com.
Aside from a celebration of his birthday, the exhibit likewise celebrates the recent unprecedented success of Aguilar Alcuaz abstract pieces sold at auction. Most recently, at the Sotheby’s auction of Southeast Asian paintings last 29th of April of 2007, Aguilar Alcuaz’s painting (31.5" x 28.75" oil on canvas) titled Still Life successfully commanded a final price of S$ 13,200 (PHP 409,200) or almost twice the minimum estimate of S$7,000. Two of his abstract art pieces at the Christie’s auction in Hong Kong held in Sunday, 27th of May of 2007 also sold at record prices. The 13 ½" x 10 ½" oil on canvas got a final price of HK$ 38,400 (PHP 230,400), almost three times the minimum estimate, while the 13 1/2 x 11 7/8 oil on canvas painting received a final price of $HK 42,000 (PHP 252,000), exactly three times the estimated minimum.
In 2003, Aguilar Alcuaz suffered chronic subdural hematoma or a rupture of a blood vessel in the brain. Although the artist has already recovered, nowadays he has momentarily stopped wielding his brushes. Still, there is much to be proud of. His works are included in the collection of some 20 museums and major cultural institutions in the world today. Among these establishments are the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Madrid, the Gulvenkian Foundation Museum of London, the Museum of Modern Art of Warsaw, the Museum of Modern Art of Krakow, and the Philips Cultural Museum of the Netherlands.
In his 50 year career Aguilar Alcuaz has exhibited in leading galleries not only in the Philippines but in Spain, Portugal, Singapore, the United States, Germany and Poland.
He is one of the most awarded and acclaimed artists internationally. Among his numerous awards are the first prize at the Premio Moncada (1957) and the Prix Francisco Goya (1958) in Barcelona. In Paris, he was awarded the Diploma of Honor at the International Exhibition of Art Libre in 1961, the Decoration of Arts, Letters and Sciences award from the French Government in 1964 and the Order of French Genius in 1964. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit by the President of the Philippines in 2006.
Except for a tribute done in his honor by the Ayala Museum in 2005, the last major Aguilar Alcuaz exhibit in Manila occurred fifteen years ago in 1992 at the Manila Hotel. Hence, this is indeed a rare opportunity to see the various works of the maestro together in one exhibition. Many of these works are unexhibited that have been drawn from the family’s private collection and otherwise not yet known to the art loving public.
Aguilar Alcuaz was born on June 6, 1932, the sixth of eleven children to Mariano Ana Aguilar and Encarnacion Alcuaz. For his high school education, he studied at the San Beda College in Mendiola St. He then took up an Associate in Arts, also at the San Beda, as his pre-Law requirement. During this time, he cross enrolled at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts in Diliman for courses in Painting and in Sculpture where he had, as his teachers, National Artists Fernando Amorsolo, Guillermo Tolentino, Toribio Herrera and Irineo Miranda. He then went on to finish his Law Degree at the Ateneo de Manila before accepting a scholarship in Spain. He stayed in Barcelona for ten years before returning to Manila in 1965. He then worked from Barcelona and Manila thence after. |
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