Exhibitions
View Premier Sanso Gallery
PREMIER SANSO
A Show of Shows
A Journey in the Lifelong Career of this Distinguished and Multi-Awarded Artist
By Jack Teotico
Juvenal Sanso is one giant of a man.
If at all, the name has become synonymous not only with great art but with being a trailblazer. He has become known for stellar and major accomplishments. In 1966, Sanso had a 20-year retrospective show at the Makati Commercial Center. In 1974, a 25-year retrospective was held for him at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. In 1976, in commemoration of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund summit meetings in Manila, Sanso held a one-man retrospective of some 1,000 works, released a portfolio of 10 lithographs on Philippine subjects, and was the subject of a major book written by Alejandro Roces.
In 1989, he made a milestone by doing six simultaneous exhibits in Manila in three museums, two cultural centers and one art gallery. And in 1994, he was the main feature in a sixteen gallery exhibition that opened the Artwalk of Megamall. This month, as he celebrates his 80th birthday, Sanso is all set to once again set an example of excellence with his show Premier Sanso, A Show of Shows.
A Show of Shows
In this show, art lovers can go on a virtual journey with the master painter himself sharing with them aspects of his career as a expressionist painter, printmaker, photographer, textile designer, set and costume designer for several opera houses in Paris including the Toulouse opera house in France and the Aix-en-Provence Festival, a master in the art of drawing before being treated to the recent works of the maestro on flowers and landscapes.
With Premier Sanso: A Show of Shows, the master pulls off another surprise. He is taking out of his treasure trove rare works that the public has not seen: there are vistas of beloved landscapes, forays into theater and opera, and early sketches in ink from his early years.
The huge drawings (ink on paper) of moving landscapes are done with his characteristic deft strokes. Put alongside his later landscapes and seascapes that are awash with colors, these black and white works give viewers a glimpse of how his works have continued to evolve.
Also sharing space at the prestigious Mandarin Oriental Suites are some of the earliest works of the artist dating from his student days at the University of the Philippines and from his student days in Paris and Rome. These include portraits and nudes. There are also his award winning prints and lithographs. Sanso’s work “Leuers” was awarded Print of the Year by the Cleveland Museum of Art, a distinction the artist shares with art luminaries Henri Matisse and Salvador Dali. Included as well are early expression portraits done during his early years in Europe. From these paintings one will glean the lingering impact of the war which affected the young artist greatly. There are also haunting landscapes from his early sojourns to Brittany which eventually evolve into the colorful panoramic vistas of a seacoast that has become a lifelong romance. Sanso spent 24 idyllic summers from 1958 to 1982 in the home of his lifelong friends Yves and Agnes le Dantec, the daughter of the great French impressionist painter Georges Roualt.
Also covered in the current show are works from his “baklad” series and “barongs-barongs”, paintings that he did inspired by scenes he saw upon his arrival in the country from his stay in Europe in the early nineteen seventies. These paintings depicting linear representations of the fish pens and structures on the Manila Bay shoreline that he saw from the air as his plane was landing in Manila, paved the way for his work designing the sets and costumes for several opera productions in Paris. These in turn inspired his reverse paintings – works done over a theatrically black background.
All these works and more will be showcased in various sections so that the viewer will have the experience of walking through the stages of Sanso’s artistic life. Although there will be a substantial amount of rare collectors pieces, the show will also have several of his new and exciting works in various sizes including large never before seen works available for his collectors. This is a first in that Sanso has never before shown paintings of these sizes and magnitudes.
Catalan Born
Juvenal Sanso was born in Reus, Catalunia, Spain, in 1929 to Jose Sanso y Pedret and Ramona Garrit de Sanso. Catulania has been home to many great artists including the architect Antoni Gaudi, painters Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Antoni Tapies, sculptors Pablo Gargallo and Carles Vives , pianist and composer Isaac Albeniz, cellist Pablo Casals, pianist and composer Enrique Granados as well as the young Picasso who initially worked in the Catalan capital of Barcelona.
At the age of four, the young Sanso moved to Manila with his parents on a month long voyage by ship. Jose Sanso who had the inclinations of being a sculptor decided to set up a furniture business using iron as his raw materials. The business, which he named Arte Espanol through the years became the most important wrought iron and steel furniture manufacturing business in the country until last year when the family decided to close its doors once and for all.
With the advent of World War II, the Sanso family temporarily shelved the furniture manufacturing business and set up a horse and buggy transportation service where the young Juvenal, then in his early teens worked as the dispatcher and conductor. It was during the Second World War that Sanso experienced a lot of the pain and anguish of the war years. He saw suffering and pain and was himself seriously injured when a bomb exploded during an air raid only a few feet away from him hurtling him across the room and causing serious damage to one ear.
After the war, the business recovered and his father urged him to study art with the hope that he would someday become the main designer for the product lines of the furniture business. At first, he took a home tutor for art and drawing. After a while, he enrolled as a special student at the UP School of Fine Arts under professors Fernando Amorsolo, Dominador Castaneda and Ireneo Miranda. After UP, he took up further studies in UST.
Studies and International Career
1951 proved to be a banner year for the young artist. He won first prize in the two major art competitions for that year sponsored by the Art Association of the Philippines. Sanso won first prize in the oil competition for his painting Sorcerer and in the latter part of that year bagged the top prize again for his painting Incubus for the watercolor competition. During that same year, he also won third place in the Shell art competition. At this point, his father could only agree to allow the young Sanso to proceed to Europe for further studies.
He proceeded to Rome to take up higher courses at the Academia di Belle Arti. A year later, he proceeded to Paris where he enrolled at the L’Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts.
Sanso held his first one-man show in Paris then came home in 1957 for his first local one-man show at the Philippine Art Gallery. He has since continued traveling extensively and holding solo exhibitions in Italy, the United States, England and Mexico and coming back to Manila regularly for occasional shows. In 1964, another significant year, his works "Leuers " was adjudged Print of the Year by the Cleveland Museum of Art, giving Sanso the rank of previous winners like Henri Matisse and Salvador Dali. In the same year he held a major all-media one-man show at the Cleveland Museum of Art, as well as one-man shows at the prestigious Philadelphia Print Club and New York's Weyhe Gallery.
He also held shows at the Galerie Lucie Weill in Paris, a few years before the distinguished internationally acclaimed artist Picasso had his show.
Since then, Sanso has held exhibitions in France, Italy, the United States, England, Mexico and Spain. Sanso’s works are represented in the collections of some 40 museums in the world including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, The Rosenwald National Gallery of Washington, the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum d’Arte Moderne in Paris, the San Francisco Museum and the Cultural Center of the Philippines. His collectors include the Rothschild Family, Nelson Rockefeller, Vincent Price, Elsa Schiaperelli, Jean Cocteau and many prominent America, European and Filipino families.
In 2006, Juvenal Sanso was awarded the Philippine Presidential Medal of Merit for the arts by a grateful Philippine Republic. A year later, he was honored with the distinguished Cross of Isabela by King Juan Carlos I of Spain and in 2008 he was awarded the Chevalier de l’Orde des Artes et des letters from the French government making Sanso the only artist residing in the Philippines that has received knighthoods or medals of distinction from every country he has resided in.
The show Premier SANSO: A Show of Shows, runs until November 23, the master painter’s birthday. Open to the public free of admission, everyone is invited to this rare chance to see in one venue the complete documentation of the stellar career of this distinguished and multi-awarded artist.
A Show of Shows
A Journey in the Lifelong Career of this Distinguished and Multi-Awarded Artist
By Jack Teotico
Juvenal Sanso is one giant of a man.
If at all, the name has become synonymous not only with great art but with being a trailblazer. He has become known for stellar and major accomplishments. In 1966, Sanso had a 20-year retrospective show at the Makati Commercial Center. In 1974, a 25-year retrospective was held for him at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. In 1976, in commemoration of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund summit meetings in Manila, Sanso held a one-man retrospective of some 1,000 works, released a portfolio of 10 lithographs on Philippine subjects, and was the subject of a major book written by Alejandro Roces.
In 1989, he made a milestone by doing six simultaneous exhibits in Manila in three museums, two cultural centers and one art gallery. And in 1994, he was the main feature in a sixteen gallery exhibition that opened the Artwalk of Megamall. This month, as he celebrates his 80th birthday, Sanso is all set to once again set an example of excellence with his show Premier Sanso, A Show of Shows.
A Show of Shows
In this show, art lovers can go on a virtual journey with the master painter himself sharing with them aspects of his career as a expressionist painter, printmaker, photographer, textile designer, set and costume designer for several opera houses in Paris including the Toulouse opera house in France and the Aix-en-Provence Festival, a master in the art of drawing before being treated to the recent works of the maestro on flowers and landscapes.
With Premier Sanso: A Show of Shows, the master pulls off another surprise. He is taking out of his treasure trove rare works that the public has not seen: there are vistas of beloved landscapes, forays into theater and opera, and early sketches in ink from his early years.
The huge drawings (ink on paper) of moving landscapes are done with his characteristic deft strokes. Put alongside his later landscapes and seascapes that are awash with colors, these black and white works give viewers a glimpse of how his works have continued to evolve.
Also sharing space at the prestigious Mandarin Oriental Suites are some of the earliest works of the artist dating from his student days at the University of the Philippines and from his student days in Paris and Rome. These include portraits and nudes. There are also his award winning prints and lithographs. Sanso’s work “Leuers” was awarded Print of the Year by the Cleveland Museum of Art, a distinction the artist shares with art luminaries Henri Matisse and Salvador Dali. Included as well are early expression portraits done during his early years in Europe. From these paintings one will glean the lingering impact of the war which affected the young artist greatly. There are also haunting landscapes from his early sojourns to Brittany which eventually evolve into the colorful panoramic vistas of a seacoast that has become a lifelong romance. Sanso spent 24 idyllic summers from 1958 to 1982 in the home of his lifelong friends Yves and Agnes le Dantec, the daughter of the great French impressionist painter Georges Roualt.
Also covered in the current show are works from his “baklad” series and “barongs-barongs”, paintings that he did inspired by scenes he saw upon his arrival in the country from his stay in Europe in the early nineteen seventies. These paintings depicting linear representations of the fish pens and structures on the Manila Bay shoreline that he saw from the air as his plane was landing in Manila, paved the way for his work designing the sets and costumes for several opera productions in Paris. These in turn inspired his reverse paintings – works done over a theatrically black background.
All these works and more will be showcased in various sections so that the viewer will have the experience of walking through the stages of Sanso’s artistic life. Although there will be a substantial amount of rare collectors pieces, the show will also have several of his new and exciting works in various sizes including large never before seen works available for his collectors. This is a first in that Sanso has never before shown paintings of these sizes and magnitudes.
Catalan Born
Juvenal Sanso was born in Reus, Catalunia, Spain, in 1929 to Jose Sanso y Pedret and Ramona Garrit de Sanso. Catulania has been home to many great artists including the architect Antoni Gaudi, painters Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Antoni Tapies, sculptors Pablo Gargallo and Carles Vives , pianist and composer Isaac Albeniz, cellist Pablo Casals, pianist and composer Enrique Granados as well as the young Picasso who initially worked in the Catalan capital of Barcelona.
At the age of four, the young Sanso moved to Manila with his parents on a month long voyage by ship. Jose Sanso who had the inclinations of being a sculptor decided to set up a furniture business using iron as his raw materials. The business, which he named Arte Espanol through the years became the most important wrought iron and steel furniture manufacturing business in the country until last year when the family decided to close its doors once and for all.
With the advent of World War II, the Sanso family temporarily shelved the furniture manufacturing business and set up a horse and buggy transportation service where the young Juvenal, then in his early teens worked as the dispatcher and conductor. It was during the Second World War that Sanso experienced a lot of the pain and anguish of the war years. He saw suffering and pain and was himself seriously injured when a bomb exploded during an air raid only a few feet away from him hurtling him across the room and causing serious damage to one ear.
After the war, the business recovered and his father urged him to study art with the hope that he would someday become the main designer for the product lines of the furniture business. At first, he took a home tutor for art and drawing. After a while, he enrolled as a special student at the UP School of Fine Arts under professors Fernando Amorsolo, Dominador Castaneda and Ireneo Miranda. After UP, he took up further studies in UST.
Studies and International Career
1951 proved to be a banner year for the young artist. He won first prize in the two major art competitions for that year sponsored by the Art Association of the Philippines. Sanso won first prize in the oil competition for his painting Sorcerer and in the latter part of that year bagged the top prize again for his painting Incubus for the watercolor competition. During that same year, he also won third place in the Shell art competition. At this point, his father could only agree to allow the young Sanso to proceed to Europe for further studies.
He proceeded to Rome to take up higher courses at the Academia di Belle Arti. A year later, he proceeded to Paris where he enrolled at the L’Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts.
Sanso held his first one-man show in Paris then came home in 1957 for his first local one-man show at the Philippine Art Gallery. He has since continued traveling extensively and holding solo exhibitions in Italy, the United States, England and Mexico and coming back to Manila regularly for occasional shows. In 1964, another significant year, his works "Leuers " was adjudged Print of the Year by the Cleveland Museum of Art, giving Sanso the rank of previous winners like Henri Matisse and Salvador Dali. In the same year he held a major all-media one-man show at the Cleveland Museum of Art, as well as one-man shows at the prestigious Philadelphia Print Club and New York's Weyhe Gallery.
He also held shows at the Galerie Lucie Weill in Paris, a few years before the distinguished internationally acclaimed artist Picasso had his show.
Since then, Sanso has held exhibitions in France, Italy, the United States, England, Mexico and Spain. Sanso’s works are represented in the collections of some 40 museums in the world including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, The Rosenwald National Gallery of Washington, the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum d’Arte Moderne in Paris, the San Francisco Museum and the Cultural Center of the Philippines. His collectors include the Rothschild Family, Nelson Rockefeller, Vincent Price, Elsa Schiaperelli, Jean Cocteau and many prominent America, European and Filipino families.
In 2006, Juvenal Sanso was awarded the Philippine Presidential Medal of Merit for the arts by a grateful Philippine Republic. A year later, he was honored with the distinguished Cross of Isabela by King Juan Carlos I of Spain and in 2008 he was awarded the Chevalier de l’Orde des Artes et des letters from the French government making Sanso the only artist residing in the Philippines that has received knighthoods or medals of distinction from every country he has resided in.
The show Premier SANSO: A Show of Shows, runs until November 23, the master painter’s birthday. Open to the public free of admission, everyone is invited to this rare chance to see in one venue the complete documentation of the stellar career of this distinguished and multi-awarded artist.