Makati-based Léon Gallery Fine Art & Antiques’ “Magnificent September Auction” is pushing through at the Asian Institute of Management Conference Center this afternoon and Heart Assemblage, a painting originally labelled as a work of the late Baguio artist Santiago Bose, but has since been contested, is no longer part of the lot. The opening bid was to start at PHP120,000. Over 150 other artworks are set to go under the hammer.
In a text message sent exclusively to Coconuts Manila minutes before the auction, Leon Gallery explains why the work has been withdrawn.
“Léon Gallery wishes to inform the public that the piece that was initially attributed to as an artwork by Mr Santiago Bose has already been withdrawn from the ‘Magnificent September Auction’. Léon Gallery regrets though that the image and details which were included in the auction catalogue had already been printed and released prior to the receipt of the formal compliant. Léon Gallery has already sent a letter to the Bose family informing them of the withdrawal of the piece of the auction and maintains open communication lines with them,” said the gallery.
Lilledeshan Bose, the late artist’s daughter, posted to her blog on Sept 26 that the work was labelled as a work by his father but, after an investigation led by the artist’s widow as well as artist Kawayan de Guia and his mom Katrin, they found out that the painting was, in fact, by performance artist Rene Aquitania and originally shown at a two-man exhibition with Roberto Villanueva at a gallery in the now-closed Cafe Amapola, which was a hub for Baguio artists in the 1980s.
“The work was produced around the time that my dad worked with several apprentices in Baguio; artists such as Perry Mamaril, Jordan Mang-o-san, and others. It was a time when his growing influence was seen in the works of many Baguio artists. My mother figured that the painting was exhibited at Cafe Amapola prior to the sale of the building and mistakenly attributed to Santiago Bose because the buyer thought it had some similarity to his work. Unfortunately, this wrong notion was never corrected,” writes Bose.
According to Bose, her mother sent a letter of complaint to Léon Gallery owner Jaime Ponce de Leon on Sept 14. By that time, the gallery had already issued out the auction catalog.
