Held on September 14, 2024, Manila’s León Gallery staged their Magnificent September Auction, bringing together a range of rare and important Filipino art that drew the attention of collectors worldwide. Despite pervasive market headwinds, particularly within the auctions sphere, the sale marked a highpoint both for the gallery and the Filipino art market, seeing several auction records broken.

“It has been our challenge to ensure that we provide very good lots that will avoid the general art slump. Luckily, we had the privilege of offering some rarities to the market, including this beautiful Amorsolo. Hence, we were able to overcome that fear,” León Gallery Director Jaime Ponce de Leon said. “This is stellar proof that the Philippine art market is alive and well.”

Fernando Amorsolo, Ifugaos in Mines View Park (1934). Courtesy of León Gallery.

One of the crowning jewels of the sale was undoubtedly a work by Fernando Amorsolo (1892–1972), Under the Mango Tree (1929), with exceptional provenance. Housed in the Atherton, California, mansion of businessman Edward J. Nell, a businessman who worked extensively in Manilla, the sale marked the first time in 95 years that the work was available for public sale. A genre painting featuring a rural, everyday vignette from the heart of the Philippines, and hailing from the acclaimed artist’s sought-after “Golden Period,” Under the Mango Tree fetched PHP 57.6 million, or roughly $1 million, besting the artist’s previous record that too had previously been set with León Gallery.

“The record-breaking sale of Under the Mango Tree just shows that Amorsolos remains to be the gold standard of Philippine art collecting,” said Ponce de Leon. “By the time the US colonized the Philippines at the turn of the century, the Americans brought home with them the finest Amorsolos.”

Benedicto Cabrera, I No Longer Worry (2005). Courtesy of León Gallery.

Other sale highlights included historical documents, such as the only known copy of the “Acta de Proclamacion de Independencia del Pueblo Filipino” (or “Philippine Declaration of Independence), which saw a new benchmark high for Philippine documents bringing PHP 11.4 million ($200,159). Alongside additional works by Amorsolos, a 1957 untitled abstract painting work by avant-garde Filipino artist Alfonso Ossorio also saw another record broken, with a price realized of PHP 33.6 million ($590,000). Ossorio was a collector and follower of Jackson Pollock, and the influence of Abstract Expressionism and mid-century Modernism is unmistakable in his work.

Alfonso Ossorio, Untitled (1957). Courtesy of León Gallery.

León Gallery was founded in 2010 staged its first auction in 2013, and throughout its regular quarterly sales program has developed and maintained a mission centered on platforming the highest caliber of Filipino art. With specialized focus, León Gallery has come to be recognized as a premier resource and expert in the field at large. Ponce de Leon noted, “Leon Gallery may be smaller than the big American auction houses, but that works to our advantage, to stay nimble and to be able to read the pulse of the market.”

Explore León Gallery’s next sale “León Exchange 33rd Online Auction 2024.”