Leon Gallery online auction features collections of cultural icons, trailblazers

Leon Gallery opened the 31st edition of the Leon Exchange Online Auction this weekend, showcasing the collections of some cultural icons and trailblazers.

Happening from April 20 to April 21, the online auction features paintings, sketches, and religious items that demonstrate the influence of art through generations.

Among the highlights of the sale are the collections of Purita Kalaw-Ledesma, known as the foremost champion and ''Mother of Philippine Modernism,'' serving as a patron and friend to modernist artists.

Her items include numerous works from revered painters and various religious artifacts.

The collection of Ramon Valera, the "Dean of Philippine Fashion,” is also featured in the auction. His items include Oriental furniture and Persian carpets.

Valera, the first Filipino to be conferred the National Artist Award for Fashion Design, revamped the traditional baro't saya into the classy and now iconic terno.

Dr. Victor Reyes’ collection of artworks will display pieces from Manuel Baldemor, Ibarra dela Rosa, and Cesar Legaspi, which express refined and sophisticated taste, while the wardrobe from Lily Leung’s collection aims to immortalize the larger-than-life actress who was revered as the "First Lady of Hong Kong Television."

Don Eugenio "Geny" Lopez's collections include a charcoal Nude by Cesar Legaspi, Jose Joya's 1968 New York City study, an oil-on-paper Romeo Tabuena entitled Study-Mexico, and the 19th-century leather panel screen.

The auction also exhibits Landscape and Landscape #3 by Dominador Castaneda from the esteemed collection of the legal luminary Don J. Antonio Araneta, as well as the early works by lauded Filipino modernists: Florencio B. Concepcion’s depiction of Inang Bayan on her way to lead her people to prosperity in a 1960 work, Angelito Antonio’s Mananahi, and one of the earliest oil paintings by National Artist Benedicto Cabrera.

H.R. Ocampo’s Abstraction 60 artwork encapsulates the 1968–1978 period at its finest, connecting within its elements and its audience.

Also in the highlights are pieces from Nena Saguil, the first Filipina artist to delve into the world of abstraction. Saguil, gathering her inspiration from nature, grounds her abstractions into timeless realism.

Also included are fine jewelry collections, luxury watches, including a Patek Philippe Calatrava and an Audemars Piguet Millenary, elegant silverware, well-preserved religious artifacts and relieves, and finely crafted furniture and elegant tableware.

Visit https://leon-gallery.com/ to browse the online catalog.

For further inquiries, email info@leon-gallery.com or contact 8856 2781. Bidding begins at 11 a.m. and will be online at www.leonexchange.com. — VBL, GMA Integrated News