Accompanied by a certificate issued by The National Museum of the Philippines confirming the authenticity of this lot

Provenance: Private Collection, Makati City

ABOUT THE WORK

Watercolor was among Vicente Manansala's preferred media. He once disclosed: "Watercolor is one of my favorite media. For relaxation. And the beauty of watercolor demands that you control it." While many artists find it difficult to execute their works in watercolor, Manansala, on the other hand, excelled, which he had been using since childhood. As a matter of fact, numerous art critics consider his watercolor paintings as some of his best works. Man with Rooster shows Manansala's mastery of aquarelle, a medium regarded as difficult to manipulate due to its fluid nature and unpredictability. Manansala employs its delicate luminosity to reconstruct and reinterpret the images of a man and a rooster into intertwining planes of color, displaying the artist's unique Transparent Cubism. Beyond the image of the rooster—an animal usually associated with the Filipinos' affinity for cockfighting—the man is shown sitting in a style reminiscent of the Ifugao bulul. With this depiction, Manansala further emphasizes and reinforces his Filipino sensibility, which he nurtured and advanced along with his creative finesse. The man gazes at the viewers intensely, while the subdued hues exude a vitality that complements his gesture. The colors penetrate the overall atmosphere of the composition, simplifying the figures so that the color accents suit the work's dynamism. The juxtaposition between the man and the rooster can be interpreted as Manansala's way of expressing his varied impressions of himself; the artist once stated that the rooster in his works represented his persona.