At the Ayala Museum: Victorio Edades

The exhibition "Victorio Edades: Birth of a Nation" is on view at Manila's Ayala Museum through July 29th.

At the 1976 National Artist awarding ceremony, Edades’ formal citation read, “He is the original iconoclast of Philippine art. He changed the direction of Philippine painting decisively… he infused new life into art, opening windows to permit access of ideas from the outside world."

To learn more, read the complete biography of Edades on the Geringerart website. 

Miguel Covarrubias: A Caricaturist Par Excellence

MIGUEL COVARRUBIAS (Mexican, 1904-1957).

Miguel Covarrubias was a Mexican painter and caricaturist, ethnologist and art historian. Unsatisfied with the start of his career in Mexico, he moved to New York City in 1924, and drew for several top magazines.

In the 1930s Covarrubias and his wife Rose made two trips to Bali where he made numerous works of art. Covarrubias also co-authored a book on Bali with artist Walter Spies.

During his later career, Covarrubias' artwork and celebrity caricatures were featured in The New Yorker and Vanity Fair magazines. The linear nature of his drawing style influenced other caricaturists such as Al Hirschfeld. Covarrubias also did illustrations for The Heritage Press including Uncle Tom's Cabin, Green Mansions, and Pearl Buck's All Men Are Brothers.

Above: Miguel Covarrubias speaks with a Balinese woman in the 1930s. 

 Geringer Art is seeking original works by Miguel Covarrubias: geringerart@yahoo.com

Le Pho: A Vietnamese Master

 An oil painting by Le Pho

LE PHO (Vietnamese, 1907-2001).

Le Pho was born in Viet Nam on August 2, 1907. He was tenth child in a family of twenty fathered by the senior mandarin Le Hoan. Because of his father's status he received a cultured education, including training in brush painting. 

Le Hoan was suspected for many years to have been a front man for the French Colonialists, and may have taken part in suppressing a peasant uprising led by De Tham. Although recent records appear to vindicate Le Hoan, Le Pho's early life was colored by these events. 

Le Pho, at age 18 became a member of the first class of students to attend the French sponsored Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Hanoi in 1925. The Hanoi ecole was directed by Victor Tardieu who had been a classmate of Henri Matisse in the Atelier Moreau. 

In 1930 Le Pho left for Paris, where he studied painting for two years. During the 30's and early 40's he painted with long, thin brushes using watercolor on silk. His subjects, including bamboo, birds and lotus flowers were traditionally Asian. 

Upon returing to Hanoi in 1933 he was made a professor at theEcole des Beaux-Arts, a position that he held from 1933 to 1936. His students from that era remember him as a thin, polite, and well-kept gentleman.

He returned to Paris in 1937 to serve as a delegate to the International Exposition, and also as a jury member. Pho remained in France, and had his first one man show there in 1938. He became an advisor to the Vietnamese Embassy in Paris and regularly exhibited at the Salon des Independants. In 1946, together with Tran Duc Thao and Tran Huu Tuoc, he provided assistance to President Ho Chi Minh and Pharn Van Dong during their stay in Paris. 

In the 1950's after Le Pho absorbed the influence of Pierre Bonnard and Odilon Redon, his subjects included sensual female figures, often portrayed in interior settings. 

His best paintings, on silk and canvas, are gentle, poetic and Asian in their aesthetic approach. Because of his exquisite skill and his influence as a teacher, Le Pho's paintings are considered extremely desireable. 

Le Pho died in Paris in 2001, after donating 20 of his works to the Viet Nam Museum of Fine Arts. 

Do you have a work by Le Pho? Contact GeringerArt for a price evaluation.