Anita Magsaysay-Ho's "Fish Harvest at Dawn"

One of the most noticeable masterpieces in our living room, Anita Magsaysay-Ho's "Fish Harvest at Dawn, is also my mother's latest art acquisition.

Anita Magsaysay-Ho (May 25, 1914 - May 5, 2012 ) was a Filipino painter. She was the only female member of the Thirteen Moderns, a standing group of Filipino modernist artists and in 1958 was chosen by a panel of experts at the six major painters of the country (Geringer Art, Ltd., 2016). 

Anita Magsaysay-Ho (1914-2012)
(Image Source: pbase.com)

The most famous works of Magsaysay-Ho are subject to the beauty of Filipino women dealing with everyday issues. Looking at her paintings, like the one in our living room, the viewer will notice that Anita Magsaysay-Ho never paints her women singularly; they are always in groups while performing a particular rural task, like the women in Fish Harvest at Dawn.

Let me describe the masterpiece the best way I could.

In that rectangle of space that measures 48 by 70 inches, twelve women are choreographed across a seascape lifting nets in anticipation of a bountiful harvest, This is signified by the throng of fishes at the bottom of the painting. In three groups that range from three to five members, the women enact a variety of postures and attitudes. The diagonal lines of their bodies---arms bent by the elbow, upper torso folded by the waist---break the monotony of the horizontal sea and sky. No matter what direction they face, they are lit by an intractable glow or source of light. No one among them can escape the light of dawn. :)  

According to the Leon Gallery, from where my mom acquired this important piece of art history, his exquisite work belongs to Anita Magsaysay-Ho's ‘Green Period,’ a phase remarkable for the freshness of her verdant hues, complimenting a classic and favored Filipino theme (leon-gallery.com, 2015). 

Fish Harvest At Dawn, 1979
Oil on Canvas
122 x 152 (48 x 59.8 in.)
(Image coypright: Jessica E. Vitangcol)

Anita Magsaysay-Ho’s treatment of light is often compared with that of her teacher, Fernando Amorsolo. While Amorsolo’s light can be dramatic (with its shifting gradations and full-bodied luminosity), Magsaysay-Ho’s is more somber and diffused, as though emanating from an earthbound source, like an oil lamp. The brilliance sputters and confidently grows the more you look at her work, a glow which finally achieves a candle power that is soft and compassionate to the eye. Magsaysay-Ho’s light doesn’t burn (geringerart.com, 2016). 

indeed, it is wonderful to have a piece of beautiful art hanging on the walls of your living room, but what's even more interesting is having a piece made by one of the most important female artists of the Philippines---one whose work gave birth to modern Philippine Art as we know it today. :)