After the Deluge Comes the Dawn Catalogue

Copyright 2020 by Galerie Joaquin. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be produced or transmitted in any form or by means, electronically or mechanical, including photocopy recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Editorial Coordinator: Grace Ng Design Consultant : Abby Frias Teotico Layout and Design: Carlo Abello Text: Ricky Francisco

AFTER THE DELUGE COMES THE DAWN Sanso’s Paintings of Op tim ism and H op e By: Ricky Fr ansico

Continuing the year-long celebration of Juvenal Sanso’s 90th birthday last November 23, 2019, Fundacion Sanso collaborates with Galerie Joaquin, Sanso’s home gallery, and presents “AFTER THE DELUGE COMES THE DAWN: Juvenal Sanso’s Paintings of Optimism and Hope,” as a timely reminder that tough times do not last, but tough people do. At a time when our normal has been changed, the lessons from Sanso’s life are more important than ever.

Coincidentally, it launches Galerie Joaquin’s 20th Anniversary celebrations, as well as the almost forty years of friendship between Juvenal Sanso and Jack Teotico, the founder of Galerie Joaquin, who, like Mr. Sanso, also shares a story of triumph over adversity.

A percentage of this exhibition will fund Fundacion Sanso throughout this prolonged quarantine; and enable it to continue the operation of its museum, its scholarship program, its authentication program, and the ongoing catalogue raisonne project throughout 2020.

A F T E R T H E D E L U G E C O M E S T H E D AW N

8

A LIFE LIVED THRICE

32

A R T F O R A R AVA G E D W O R L D , ART TO SURVIVE

50

A RT O F T R A N S F O R M AT I O N : D E S O L AT I O N TO H O P E

66

A F T E R T H E D E L U G E C O M E S T H E D AW N

76

Epilogue: LIKE RIPPLES IN A POND

A LIFE LIVED THRICE

TOP - BOTTOM

WAT C H I N G T H E WAV E S F L O W

12 X 18 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1996

THE WARMTH OF MORNING

12 X 18 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1999

8

| Juvenal Sansรณ

The life of Juvenal Sanso is one that is marred by great conflicts and subsequent triumph over these difficulties. From the time he was born, until he found his style as an artist, hardships seemed to hound him. And overcoming these, seemed to be among the key characteristics which define him as a person.

And as the artist, the same is true about the story of his art.

Art historian Dr. Reuben Canete attributes the reason for the Sanso family’s migration to Manila in 1934 as having to do with trying to escape the unrest resulting from the rise of authoritarianism and fascism in Spain then. Juvenal Sanso was just a toddler of about four years old when they left their hometown of Reus in the Catalonian region of Spain, to seek a more peaceful life in the far eastern former colony, the Philippines. His father’s decision seemed prescient as in 1939, five years after they arrived in Manila, the fascist dictator Francisco Franco would gain control over the entire country, and create great suffering among the Catalan, of which the Sanso family belongs to.

9

| A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

T H E Q U I E T S T I L L N E S S O F E A R LY M O R N I N G

19.75 X 25.75 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R (1988 - 2006)

10 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

THE SERENITY IN MORNING

19.75 X 25.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1998

11 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

BALMY MORNING

19.5 X 26.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

12 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

THE SERENITY OF MORNING

19.25 X 25.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

13 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

A UNIQUE AND DISTINCTIVE CHARM

12 X 16.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1986

14 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

The Sansos would establish a wrought iron business in what was considered to be the Pearl of the Orient, a thriving cosmopolitan city where East truly mingled with the West. Their business would gain popularity among the richer folk of Manila, and enable their family to be rooted in the city for good.

However, when Juvenal Sanso was just twelve years old, World War II would arrive at Manila, prompting his family to flee to the mountains of Montalban to evade the Japanese who were drafting their factory to the war efforts of the Japanese.

His father

refused, and avoided the conflict by trying to be self-sufficient in the mountains. After two years of barely coaxing enough food from the land for his family, they would to return to Manila, only to find greater hardships there.

TIMELESS MOMENTS

15.5 X 11.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1979

15 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

IT’S A NEW DAWN

12 X 18 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

16 | J u v e n a l S a n s ó

OASES OF GOOD FORTUNE (BAKLAD SERIES)

19 X 23.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

17 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

B E J E W E L E D V I S TA

20 X 25.75 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1998

18 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

T R AV E R S I N G U N C H A R T E R E D V I S TA S

20 X 28.25 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1994

19 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

A COLORFUL DANCE

8.5 X 10.75 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 2010

20 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

AN UNBRIDLED DANCE

8 X 11 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 2008

21 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

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A NEW AWAKENING

8.5 X 11 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1996

P E A C E L I K E O N LY M O R N I N G C A N B R I N G

12 X 18 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1992

22 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

Between 1944 and 1945, the blue eyed teenage Sanso, who was just fifteen years old, would be taken by the Japanese off the streets as he was playing, presumably mistaken to be an enemy American, and be badly beaten aboard a barge on the Pasig River. Sanso recalls being asked to kneel after the ordeal, which he understood as a sign of his impending decapitation, as was commonly done by the Asian aggressors against those who opposed them. The threat of mortality came in the form of merciless soldiers who would use his body as a punching bag, and made sure he knew of the fragility of life with their brutality. Following GREETING THE MORNING

20 X 28.25 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1992

his instinct, Sanso saved himself by jumping into the murky river, even as he recalls his captors shot at him, trying to gun him down. This nightmarish incident would abruptly end his childhood, and be Sanso’s first brush with death. Hiding in the waters across the other bank, amidst floating plants, and waiting for the right time to leave, would grant him his second lease at life, and enable him to go home.

23 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

AS DAWN SPREADS ITS REACH

19.5 X 25.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1988 - 2012

24 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

In just a few months after his horrific ordeal, Manila would be carpet bombed by the Americans who wanted to take back the city. The traumatized Sanso recalls excitedly going up to the topmost of a building to watch as the Japanese soldiers flee on foot, to cheer the coming Americans, as their airplanes flew overhead and dropped the bombs that were supposed to be for Manila’s liberation. However, these bombs would not discriminate between allies and enemies, the innocent and the guilty. These bombs would kill and destroy in wanton abandon, obliterating anything that came its way. His second brush with death would thus come as a deadly bomb exploding barely twelve feet away from where he was, killing the older neighbor he was with at that time, and wounding him perilously. The carpet bombing by the Americans, and the retaliatory burning of Manila by the Japanese, would level the city leaving death and destruction in its wake. When before, the gleaming Pearl of the Orient was, there stood the rubble of the second most destroyed city in the PA S S I O N O F T H E F U T U R E

11.5 X 8.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1997

world after the war. In this city of the dead, the young Sanso clung to life with all his being.

25 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

WARM WISPS OF SUMMER III

12.5 X 9.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 2010

26 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

WHEN FIELDS TURN GOLDEN

12.75 X 18 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1990 - 2006

27 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

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S O M E D AY A L L W I L L B E TO G E T H E R

20 X 27.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 2002 - 2012

STRENGTH IN UNITY (ORCHARD SERIES)

12 X 18 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1992

28 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

The injured Sanso would be helped by two young companions who were there when the bomb exploded. They braved the volley of gunfire and dragged him to a doctor in their neighborhood who would sew the deepest wounds without anesthesia to stop his bleeding. He would live through the fevers of infection without antibiotics, not knowing day from night. Years on, he would recall of this only a few moments of lucidity before lapsing into a shell-shocked, delirious state at the basement which would have been the safest spot in their house as the city was being bombed.

Yet, his will to survive was great. And he eventually would live his third lease at life at the tender age of sixteen, practically deaf in his right ear from the injuries, scarred up to his chest, but strong enough to be able to help his father out after the war, firstly in their transport business as a “bus� conductor, T H E C H A R M S O F A N E W D AY

24.5 X 19 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

and las a metal scrap collector when they gathered iron from the bombed out buildings to re-establish their wrought iron business once again.

29 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

I N F E R V E N T C O M PA N Y

9.5 X 12.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1989

30 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

SOLIDARITY IN SPIRIT

8.5 X 11 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1995

31 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

THOSE GOLDEN MOMENTS (EN VASE SERIES)

12 X 18 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1995

32 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

The injured Sanso would be helped by two young companions who were there when the bomb exploded. They braved the volley of gunfire and dragged him to a doctor in their neighborhood who would sew the deepest wounds without anesthesia to stop his bleeding.

He would

live through the fevers of infection without antibiotics, not knowing day from night. Years on, he would recall of this only a few moments of lucidity before lapsing into a shell-shocked, delirious state at the basement which would have been the safest spot in their house as the city was being bombed.

Yet, his will to survive was great.

And he

eventually would live his third lease at life at the tender age of sixteen, practically deaf in B AT H E D I N A WA R M G L O W

9.5 X 11 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1998

his right ear from the injuries, scarred up to his chest, but strong enough to be able to help his father out after the war, firstly in their transport business as a “bus� conductor, and las a metal scrap collector when they gathered iron from the bombed out buildings to re-establish their wrought iron business once again.

33 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

A D AY L I G H T O N C E M O R E

9.25 X 9.25 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

34 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

BLADES OF GOLD

11 X 13.75 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

35 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

AS WE BLOOM WE FLOURISH

19 X 23.25 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 2004

36 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

THE DUALITY OF PURPOSE

12 X 17.75 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1998

37 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

EXPLORING NEW FRONTIERS

19.5 X 25.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

38 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

GREETING THE NEW MORNING

12.75 X 18 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

39 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

FIRST HINT OF LIGHT

11 X 12 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1994

40 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

Within two years, business would pick up. The denizens of the ravaged city would want to carry on, with some sense of normalcy despite all the destruction, hurt, trauma, and death that still enveloped the city. By 1947, the Sanso wrought iron business would churn out furniture for the city which wanted to get back on its feet. At this time, an itinerant artist, Alejandro Celis, selling religious paintings from house to house, would inspire his father to get Sanso tutored by Celis in art, to give the wrought iron business now known as Arte Espanol, an even sharper competitive edge. Juvenal Sanso, in his father’s eyes, would be a furniture designer who would help him carve a bigger niche into the market, and train him to be his successor in the family business.

But fate has other plans for Juvenal as in just a few months, he would learn everything that Celis could teach. His prodigious talent, great focus, and enthusiasm, would convince Celis to persuade his father to enroll him to the Fine Arts program of the University of the Philippines.

41 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

GOLDEN DAWN, VERDAN MOMENTS

19.5 X 25.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 2004

42 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

In 1948, Professor Irineo Miranda would administer his talent test, and accelerate him to the third year, bypassing two years of studio training required from regular students. Under the great Fernando Amorsolo, Guillermo Tolentino, and other notable artists of that time, Sanso would hone his artistic skills further, even though the techniques taught were mostly practical and answering to the practical needs of that time. At the University of the Philippines, he would also establish lifelong friendships with Larry Alcala, Araceli Dans, and Rodolfo Ragodon, who would eventually become giants in the arts, like him.

U . P. C O L L E G E O F F I N E A R T S C L A S S O F 1 9 5 0 - 5 1

43 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

TOP - BOTTOM

A P P R E C I AT I N G E A S T E R N I N F L U E N C E S ( O R I E N TA L I A S E R I E S )

8.5 X 11 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1996

COURAGE FOR TOMORROW

9.5 X 12.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1998

44 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

TOP - BOTTOM

IMPONDERABLE CARESS

12 X 11 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1992 - 2004

THE BOUNTY IN MORNINGS (GOLD SERIES)

9.5 X 12 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 2000

45 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

AN ENERGETIC RECEPTION

12.5 X 9.25 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

46 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

RIBBONS OF MIRTH AND MERRIMENT

19.5 X 25.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1998

47 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

EXPLORING DAWN’S COMING

19.5 X 12.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1998

48 | J u v e n a l S a n s ó

STRENGTH & FORTITUDE

12 X 17.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1996

49 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

UNTITLED

19 X 25.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

50 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

UPON QUIET REFLECTION

8.5 X 11 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

51 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

JOYOUS MERRIMENT

11.5 X 15.75 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

52 | J u v e n a l S a n s รณ

ONE CHEERFUL MORNING

12 X 17.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

53 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

A R T F O R A R AVA G E D W O R L D , A R T T O S U R V I V E

TOP - BOTTOM

WARM WISPS OF SUMMER I

9.5 X 12.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 2010

WARM WISPS OF SUMMER II

9.5 X 12.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 2010

54 | ART F O R A R AVA G E D W O R L D, A RT T O S U RV I V E

THE INCUBUS

24.25 X 34.5 IN GOUACHE ON BOARD FUNDACION SANSO COLLECTION

In 1951, after graduating from UP, he would continue sitting in at lessons at the University of Santo Tomas, which was pioneering an art which would later assert its own identity away from the influence of the esteemed Fernando Amorsolo.

Under Cesar Legaspi, and the influence of the other “Moderns”, Sanso would explore new ideas about art, which he has already started on his own while still in UP, under the watchful eye of Amorsolo himself. Two plates he made in UP as a student, which he named “The Sorcerer” and “The Incubus”, would give him to grand prizes at the 1951 Arts Association of the Philippines. The latter would be farther away from the traditionally bright and joyful subjects espoused by Amorsolo and his peers; and mark Sanso’s dissociation from the sunny, beautiful, happy, and bountiful world that were hallmarks of Philippine art. Instead, it would be a polar opposite of it: a misshapen beggar in a dark and dreary corner with glazed eyes, and a fiendish grin. His only belongings are his tattered clothes and a frayed basket. And one cannot be certain whether his outstretched hand was in supplication for pity and loose change, or was menacingly threatening to pull an unwitting victim for some malicious intent. “The Incubus” nearly too grotesque to be human, reflected the trauma from his horrific and dehumanizing experiences of the war, and it was a clear departure from what was socially acceptable as fine art back then.

And yet, it was authentically Filipino, despite its obvious departure from the norm.

55 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

TOP - BOTTOM

A S B L E S S I N G S R A D I AT E

10.25 X 10.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1998

56 | ART F O R A R AVA G E D W O R L D, A RT T O S U RV I V E

57 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

AN EBULLIENT EXPERIENCE

17.5 X 11.75 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

58 | ART F O R A R AVA G E D W O R L D, A RT T O S U RV I V E

PA S S I O N AT E A N D F O R T H C O M I N G

8 X 11.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

59 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

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A S O L I TA R Y J O U R N E Y

8.5 X 11 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1994

MOMENTS REMEMBERED

8.5 X 11 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1994

60 | ART F O R A R AVA G E D W O R L D, A RT T O S U RV I V E

His grand slam win would give him the confidence to go to Europe to pursue further studies. No less than Purita Kalaw-Ledesma, the founder and president of the Art Association of the Philippines, would go to Sanso’s mother to convince her and his father that such an endeavor would be beneficial to someone as gifted as Sanso. But his mother did not need convincing, and Sanso, despite his father’s initial objections, would choose the life of an artist instead of the path of a wrought iron artisan that was laid out for him. He would trade the stability of the family business Arte THE ARTIST INSIDE HIS STUDIO

Espanol, for the adventure that would be his career as a solitary painter.

61 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

STILLNESS OF DAWN

19.68 X 25.5 IN INK COLORS 1966 FUNDACION SANSO COLLECTION

62 | ART F O R A R AVA G E D W O R L D, A RT T O S U RV I V E

In 1952, with only his desire to learn and despite not knowing how to converse in Italian, he would travel by boat for forty days to Italy, and study briefly in Rome, before deciding it is too traditional for him.

Rome looked to the past for inspiration.

Paris was where the present art was being defined, and so he would go there despite not knowing any functional French. On an extremely tight budget, he would enroll at the Ecole National des Beaux Art where he would find mentorship under Edouard Goerg, who was also the president of the Society of French painter-engravers. In the three years he was in school, Sanso would take inspiration from Goerg, and focus on the tedious and technically demanding fine art of etching. From then on, he would be immersed in Post-war Paris, and join in what was happening then. He would sometimes end up listening to intellectual giants like Sartre talk about existentialism in his favorite cafe, but it would be the art of expressionists like Georges Rouault, that TOP - BOTTOM

GREETING THE SUNRISE

would move him.

12 X 18 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1992

DAWN’S PROMISE FULFILLED

8.5 X 11 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1992

63 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

AT L A S T T H E M O R N I N G C O M E S

11 X 8.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1992

64 | ART F O R A R AVA G E D W O R L D, A RT T O S U RV I V E

In 1955, after graduation, combining his skills in printmaking with his fun-loving personality, he would create exciting textile designs that would capitulate with him accepting commissions for the famous fashion houses of Synergie, Bianchini Ferrier, and Balenciaga in the mid 60’s. The money he would make as a textile designer would enable him to focus on his art, and travel to other parts of Europe. During his excursions to Germany, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Greece, and Spain; sketching his journey on paper using pen, pencil, and his favorite dry brush.

He would return to Manila in 1957, and would have his first Philippine solo exhibition at the age of 28.

Through the

Philippine Art Gallery, his drawings and fine art prints, all works on paper that he has produced over the past five years in Paris, would be exhibited - the first of its kind in the country to celebrate such techniques and media as fine art. Prior to his exhibition, local art enthusiasts and artists themselves, considered drawings and prints were as preparatory to canvas painting, or as applications of commercial practical arts. It would take decades before they would gain acceptance as fine art.

65 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

BAKLAD

11.75 X 15.25 IN ETCHING 1963 FUNDACION SANSO COLLECTION

66 | ART F O R A R AVA G E D W O R L D, A RT T O S U RV I V E

During that crucial time which served as Sanso’s home coming, only cognoscenti like the artist-lecturer-patron Fernando Zobel, and art collector Luis Ma. Araneta took him seriously. They would be among his first clients to collect his numbered etchings. And it would take almost two decades later, for art historians and critics like Leo Benesa, and curators like Ray Albano, to recognize the importance of the exhibition to the canon of Philippine Art History and champion Sanso and his art.

With the little that records show, we can deduce that the etchings he brought with him were a mixture of subjects: plant forms (Tiges/ Grass Roots), dark flowers (Fleur No. 9 / Artichout), black landscapes (Ville), menacing trees (Arbre), and grotesque people (Eva, La Fete A Guillaume, Beaux Art Ball, Quai aux Fleurs) composed the Sanso visual vocabulary. Their similarity to “The Incubus” was clear, despite all being rendered in black. Because of the use of just this color, and because of the dark subject matter, art historians would call this, and works up to as late as 1968, his Black Series.

Like “The Incubus” though, his works, though menacing, would never show anger, terror, or hate, unlike other artworks about the OPHELIA

13.5 X 9 IN I N K & WA S H O N PA P E R U N D AT E D

war and its horrors by artists of his time. Where Amorsolo would paint of the bright and bountiful Philippine farm scene, with beautiful lasses at the peak of life, Sanso’s works would, as one writer says, “apocalyptic”: always be between fragile alienation and debilitating solitude on the one hand, and stoic acceptance that enabled his subjects to persist, despite the unforgiving forces which surround and mold them.

67 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

BLACK BOUQUET

22.5 X 17.6 IN LITOGRAPH 1964

68 | ART F O R A R AVA G E D W O R L D, A RT T O S U RV I V E

Confronted by his mortality during the war, at such a young age, Sanso would often say that his works were a way of expunging the trauma. But another reading may show that they seem to intimate a deep understanding of the cruelty of both humanity and of life, as well as an abiding acceptance of both, which allowed people like him to survive, and carry on with the vagaries and absurdities of life.

His black series originally focused on skulls wreathed in flowers, misshapen people of Paris, and the bouquets of grotesque faces seemingly suspended in mid-air. They highlighted both mortality and the absurdity of life. Going home to Manila, he would be inspired and take on new subjects: the barungbarong (shanties) and baklad (fish traps) he saw with refreshed eyes upon his initial return to Manila. He would transform these upon his return to Europe into apocalyptical domains: desolate cities, and gnarly, tortured, alien landscapes, which suggested solitude and alienation. These would have most likely been included in his first solo show at Paris, sponsored by visionary fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli who actively worked with the surrealists Dali and Miro, in the esteemed Galerie Lucie Weil, where famous artists like Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso TRANSITIONS

16.64 X 10.62 IN I N D I A I N K O N PA P E R

exhibited.

69 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

70 | ART F O R A R AVA G E D W O R L D, A RT T O S U RV I V E

LO ETERNO, LO PRESENTE

45 X 92 IN ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 1960

71 | A f t e r t h e de lu ge c o m e s t h e dawn

TOP - BOTTOM

BLUE DOMAIN

13.5 X 22 IN I N K & A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R FUNDACION SANSO COLLECTION

LIGHT & PLANES

19.72 X 25.62 IN INDIA INK 1962 FUNDACION SANSO COLLECTION

72 | ART F O R A R AVA G E D W O R L D, A RT T O S U RV I V E

In the 1960’s, these would be increasingly devoid of human figures,

Buoyed by his newfound self-confidence in his new visual

and instead focus on how these themes (mortality, and the absurdity

vocabulary which expressed his inner needs as well as struck

of life) and moods (alienation and solitude) would be expressed even

a chord with audiences, Sanso would go seek opportunities

more nuanced and more subtly through depersonalized inanimate

to exhibit his work. Having the advantage of multiple original

floral bouquets, which are the stylistic development of the bouquets

etchings, and the ease of transport that working with paper

of faces, and the highly weathered, ghostly landscapes that persisted

provided, he would be able to exhibit not only in Paris and

despite all odds. A review by critic A.E. Popham from Burlington’s

Manila, where he was now both rooted in, but in other parts

Magazine of his 1964 exhibition in London describes his works: “At

of the world including Rome, Italy (Galeria Obelisco, 1960),

the Trafford Gallery an exhibition of pictures, predominantly in pen and

New York, USA (Wehye Gallery, 1964 and the International

ink, and water colour, by Juvenal Sanso, a Spanish –born painter who

Graphic Arts Society of New York, 1966), Trafford Gallery

grew up in the Philippines and now lives in Paris. The paintings reveal

(London, UK),

a preference for rock forms and plants and sponge-like formations,

Washington DC, USA (Agra Gallery, 1969), Mexico (Palacio

depicted in a dense technique, reminiscent of Ernst, with the matiere

de Bellas Artes, 1970). Highlights of this period would be his

as much as the ostensible subject contributing to a mysterious overall

winning the 1963 “Print of the Year” of the Cleveland Print

effect. This density is at times almost shocking and some of the

Club for his etching “Lueurs”. Previous winners included

pictures seem like a production of the surrealist William Dyce. But they

Matisse and Salvador Dali.

Spoletto Italy (Menotti Gallery, 1967),

are redeemed by a certain reticence and a skill that is evident without being obtrusive. In some instances, Senor Sanso’s paintings seem to gain additional strength through the implicit influence of Oriental art.

There are some semi-architectural fantasies in the exhibition, and in one particular that looks like a cross between an intricate palace of cards and a congested Neapolitan slum. It is a picture that is crowded, but it just avoids looking cluttered because the forms are set down with that feeling for summary notation characteristic of Chinese and Japanese painting.”

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A RT O F T R A N S F O R M AT I O N : D E S O L AT I O N TO H O P E

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THE POETRY CALLED MORNING

22.5 X 28.25 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1986

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ONE’S CROWNING GLORY

19.75 X 25.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1996

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Upon his return to Paris in 1958, other than his successful first solo at the Lucie Weil Gallery, another turning point would mark Sanso’s life. It would be meeting Yves le Dantec and his wife Agnes Rouault, who happens to be the youngest daughter of George Rouault, the artist whose works Sanso admired. Yves was a soldier in the war, and could relate to the horrors that Sanso saw and the brutality he experienced. Between them, a great bond would be established, one of deep respect and humanity.

BLESSINGS OF MORNING

11 X 12 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1996

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PRODIGIOUS JOY

22.5 X 28.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1990

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The le Dantecs would invite him to their home in Brittany for a summer, and it would change his life.

The Brittany coast was so breathtaking. Sanso himself said “This landscape was so beautiful, I felt I did not deserve it… It took me about two years of just staring at the sea and the changing tides, and the rose granite rocks. I simply could not paint. I had to digest it first and filter it… It was a world so different from my visual past. Slowly it came through color-ink and acrylic sketches done very fast. Year after year, they supported me in every possible way.

They prepared breakfast,

after which, he would take me to the rocks and pick me up at about six in the evening, day after day. When the tricky Britanny weather brings in an FROM THE MOVEMENTS COME A CALMNESS

11 X 12 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1984

unexpected shower, Yves would come and fetch me immediately (so as to ensure that the sketches would not be ruined).”

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D AW N ’ S E A R LY L I G H T

23 X 33.25 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1984

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E X P L O R I N G D AW N ’ S M E A N I N G ( O R I E N TA L I A S E R I E S )

12 X 9 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1988

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The idioms of Brittany would find its way into Sanso’s oeuvre. In the late 60’s and the early 70’s he would exhibit acrylic paintings on paper with his quick impressions of Brittany as a subject.

Waves crashing on rocks, a lonely boat at sea, the carcass of an abandoned boat at shore, were among the first idioms to make it in his expanding visual vocabulary, as they resonated with Sanso’s earlier body of work that focused on alienation.

But an existential change was coming and it would manifest itself through color seeping into Sanso’s works.

First it came as background hues of reds or blues for his barong-barong and baklad inspired GLASS BELL

13.81 X 10.59 IN INK COLORS 1959

landscapes. But then it would manifest in a combination of dark-hued colors in his works on paper, particularly those with flowers, such as in the work Glass Bell (1959). Color would be more integral to his work as he sketched more of Brittany, and he would produce works like

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E A R LY I N T H E S P R I N G

13 X 18.25 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1994 - 2008

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O I LY C A L M B AY

17 X 23 IN OIL ON CANVAS 1962

“Oily Calm Bay” (1962) that clearly show in muted color, the rocks and the vast horizon of Brittany that became part of his repertoire. By the mid-1970s, he would produce works with the sky blues, reds, yellows and greens that our eyes are more accustomed to, such as in the “Joyful Saraband” (1976). On paper, he would even experiment more daringly with color. His lithographs, like “Brittany Cove” (1972) and “Brittany House” (1972), and tempera on paper works like “Idle Sail” (1973) would present what he saw in Brittany stylized, and in intense, brilliant, saturated color.

Jean Dalveze of Aux Ecoutes described his work thus “A boat in the beach, an immense sky where the light vibrates, are enough for him to convey the melancholic tenderness of the world, its vastness, and the small part we share of it. His paintings thus, have a remarkable poesy.”

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G O L D E N F I E L D S AT D AW N

8.25 X 11 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1996

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The experience of Brittany has transformed Sanso and his art. No longer was there anguish, but rather, a calm sense of wonder, and a content solitude. No longer do the nightmarish images haunt his soul. The waves of the sea seemed to have washed over them and replaced them with serenity and joy. Looking back in the twenty-five summers he spent with the le Dantec family, Sanso says “I will never be able to thank the le Dantecs for all they have done despite their three children and later, their grandchildren. I was one of the family. The proof of the pudding was really in accepting all the problems I brought along with my painting. I am saying this because I cannot say there was a concept in this case; it was simply a human result of a human situation. I was simply living my painting, and painting my life.� Thus, through a genuine human connection with the le Dantecs, and a total immersion in their life in Brittany, did Sanso save himself from the trauma of war. Through his art, he transformed desolation to serenity and hope.

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TOP - BOTTOM

EXPLORING ONE’S POTENTIALS

8.5 X 11 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1982

G E N T L E B R E AT H PA S S I N G

8.25 X 11.75 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1980 - 2012

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OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND

12 X 18 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1992

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FIRST GLIMPSE OF DAWN

11.75 X 16 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1996

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A GOLDEN SUNRISE

12 X 16 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

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A TOWERING PRESENCE (GOLD ABLOOM SERIES)

12.5 X 9.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

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A CHEERFUL OPTIMISM

20 X 27.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

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UPRIGHT & FULFILLED

27.5 X 20 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

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Sanso would continue with the Brittany coast, the colorful flowers, and even manage to meld the baklad into his landscapes from the 1980s up to the 2010s. The forty works on paper which comprise the exhibit “After the Deluge Comes the Dawn” are excellent examples of this. These works celebrate the joy of living, after earning the right to it through survival.

These works on paper are from the 1970s to the 1990s and yet still look like they were made recently because of the high quality paper which Sanso used. Sanso had a special relationship with paper as it enabled him to explore color and create more detailed renditions.

Being able to use acrylic like water color, he was able to layer images and create a richness of texture which he could not achieve on canvas. His line has greater facility and flow on paper and enabled him to do different effects particular only to this support. So enamored was he with paper that he used it as the support for a variety of media: drawing, printmaking, textile design, set and costume design (some of which are three-dimensional), painting, collage, xerography, photography and for his written work like poetry, essays, and copious amounts of letter-writing!. Because it was easy to bring, paper allowed him to work wherever he was, being the global citizen that he was, and made it possible for him to have exhibitions in different countries in quick succession. It is one of the secrets to Sanso’s productivity and success. It could also be seen as a metaphor for the life, in the sense that it seems fragile, and yet its tenacity to exist and persist enables greatness to come out of it

AFTER THE DELUGE COMES THE DAWN

11.75 X 15.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1994

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A F T E R T H E D E L U G E C O M E S T H E D AW N

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THE FREE AIR, THE GREEN WIND

19.5 X 25.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1996

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A S U N I T Y I L L U M I N AT E S

12 X 18 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1992

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Finding his mĂŠtier, Juvenal Sanso became ever more expansive.

Yearly shows in both Paris and Manila become his rhythm. So prolific was he, that in between these solo exhibitions in the two countries, he would interject solo exhibitions in various galleries the US, the UK, Spain, Italy, and even, for a time, in Mexico. In recognition of his artistic contributions, the Cultural Center of the Philippines holds his 25-year retrospective. Barely two years later, in 1976, one of his collectors, Luis Ma. Araneta, with the help of Hans Sy, who was the son of Sanso’s childhood friend Henry Sy, hosts a 1,000-work exhibition by Sanso in honor of the IMF World Bank Conference held in Manila. It was a resounding critical and commercial success! Between 1988 and 1989, the Eugenio Lopez Foundation sponsors the publication of the book Sanso: Art Quest Between Worlds and six solo exhibitions held in succession at the Lopez Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Alliance Francaise, the Spanish Embassy, the Ayala Museum, and the Finale Art Gallery marked the occasion.

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T H E E X C I T E M E N T I N R E A L I Z AT I O N

12 X 18 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1992

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T H E J OY O F D AY B R E A K ( O R C H A R D S E R I E S )

12 X 18 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1992

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S P R I N G T I M E ’ S F I R S T B R E AT H

12 X 18 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1994

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Working with Henry Sy and Hans Sy, Sanso convinces them to create the Art Walk in Megamall. It was the first of its kind in the country,

where

leading

galleries

would

be congregated in one spot, to make art accessible to all.

A “Sanso Festival” will

inaugurate the Art Walk, and 16 galleries would have solo shows of different aspects of Sanso’s body of work for nearly one month!

TOP - BOTTOM

THE FREE AIR, THE GREEN WIND

8.25 X 10.75 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1998

A PA R A G O N O F D E P E N D A B I L I T Y

9.5 X 12.25 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R

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PERCEIVING DAWN’S GLOW

12 X 16.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1999

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In 2005, a work from Sanso’s Felicidad series fetches a record price at the 20th Anniversary of the Sotheby’s Auction of Southeast Asian Art in Singapore.

In 2006, in recognition of his artistic legacy to the Philippines, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo awards Sanso the “Presidential Medal of Merit” alongside Fernando Zobel and Anita Magsaysay Ho. This would be followed in 2007 by the Spanish government bestowing him the Distinguished Cross of Isabela for his exemplary work across national boundaries. The French government, through the Ministry of Culture and Communication, would follow suit in 2008, and honor him with The Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Early suffering has fueled a lifetime of success for Sanso. His third life, though ushered in by the brutality of war and the very real threat of his own mortality, became a life of triumph and joy.

In the spirit of giving back, he and his friends inaugurated the Fundacion Sanso in 2014 in San Juan City, Metro Manila after retiring for good and returning to Manila, his true home. Fundacion Sanso runs a museum and scholarship program for young artists, as Sanso wanted.

And it safeguards his legacy through its

authentication program.

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THE WARMTH OF SUMMER

9.5 X 12.5 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1994

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A COMMUNITY OF BRETHEREN

8.5 X 11 IN A C R Y L I C O N PA P E R 1994

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Epilogue: LIKE RIPPLES IN A POND

A 2014 PHOTOGRAPH OF JUVENAL SANSO AND JACK T E O T I C O AT T H E C O N S T R U C T I O N S I T E O F W H AT WA S TO BECOME FUNDACION SANSO.

110 | E pilo g u e : L I K E R I P P L E S I N A P OND

Jack Teotico founded Galerie Joaquin in 2000, modestly operating from his own condominium unit.

His family’s

manufacturing business suffered terribly from the Asian Crisis, and it snowballed into other aspects of his family life. A recent retiree from government service then, he took a leap of faith and focused on dealing art to try to make things better. Art was something he loved, since he became a member of the respected Saturday Group in 1983. Among those who gave works to him was his colleague and friend, Juvenal Sanso, and met regularly whenever his government career brought him to Paris or New York. Sanso, and other close friends, trusted him with their works, and he was able to sell them and remit sales quickly. In 2002, funded by a loan from a friend, Teotico was able to open Galerie Joaquin at its present location. In roughly six months, he had paid off his debt, and started to grow the gallery into the group of galleries it is now.

Like Sanso, the story of his gallerist Jack Teotico, is one of triumph over adversity. This is one of the legacies which Galerie Joaquin celebrates on its 20th Anniversary. This is the reason why the works of Sanso are chosen to inaugurate this occasion.

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