“Jolog” is transliterated (literal translations), modified code-switching (mixing Tagalog with English or English with Tagalog); that includes Pinoy slang, carabao English, gay language, and as its growing literature shows technology savvy, global and popular (mass media) jargon are part of its speak. Whether some people like Jolog or not, it is a good big part of the country’s educational system that involves the education/development of mostly the youth.
Paolo Manalo, gave an academic (definitive) meaning of the word through his essay entitled, “Being the True, the Good, the Beautiful and Definitive Meaning of Jologs”. Manalo clarifies that; (1) the true jolog, came from Jolina (Magdangal). A Jolina fan calls her, “Jol” for Jolina and “og”, a suffix for follower; (2) the good jolog came from “hulog”, the hiphop fashion consisting of very loose and wide pants that kept on falling “huhulog-hulog”. “Hulog” later was spelled “jolog”; (3) the beautiful jolog’s origin is “Jaloux”, a low class disco that played baduy music and patronized by young fashion victims. A standing joke became, “Nag-jaloux ka, ano.” Thus, Jaloux became a byword which after some permutations became jolog; but (4) the meaning acceptable to most is that Diyolog stands for dilis, tuyo and itlog, the food of the masses. Eventually, it was shortened to d’yolog, which later, became jolog. Jolography, Manalo (2002) elucidates that it is a collection of poems that originally,
begins with H-holography method of producing three dimensional
images of objects by recording on a photographic plate or film the
pattern of interference formed by a split-laser beam and then illuminating
the pattern either with a laser or with ordinary light.
In his Jolog way, he clarifies,
Sa madaling salita, pag-iilusyon . . . along the way, the “H” became a “J”
because to some Filipino ears, the two sounds alike - nagkakaringgan. To
some Filipino eyes, they look alike – namamalikmata. The result, being
the search for Jolina Magdangal references and allusions when there is none.
“O, how dead you child are” (patay kang bata ka) is how Manalo opens Jolography, a collection of Engalog (English-Tagalog) poems. Rich in transliterations and carabao English, Kris Lanot Lacaba clarified its contents,
we are introduced to a voice emulating that of the Jologs. It is the voice of the underdogs we are presented [with]. It is the representation of a voice like that of Yoyoy, of Dolphy, of Aegis, of April Boy Regino. It is the voice like that of Sexbomb Girls: Get get awww!
Manalo pointed out that, Michael V in his songs and Jimmy Santos of Eat Bulaga are artists who take Tagalog expressions and turn them into their English counterpart. An inspection of the book’s 90 pages, one won’t miss the opening quote, by Melanie Marquez, “and I want to thank God for my long legged.” Among the 20 poems in his book are Jolography, Mrs. Tsismis, Nihil Obstat, a take on Roman Catholic approved literature; Still Life With a Fallen Angel, based on a creepy UFO poster; Echolalia, Peksman, Boy Wonder (based on text taken from an online review of Niño Muhlach’s The Boy God., The Hollow, etc.; B-Sides, a combination poem-prose; Bonus Track, the essay on , “Being the True, the Good, the Beautiful and Definitive Meaning of Jologs”; end Notes of the poems; the comic(s) cartoon of Atomo and Weboy, additional quotes and half a page, ‘About the Author’. His Jolography (2002), won first prize in English poetry of the 2002 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards and 2004 UP Gawad Chanselor Para sa Natatanging Likha ng Sining.
Manalo’s poetry played the three rules of (1) acquisition, (2) transliteration, and (3) juxtaposition in the writing of Jolography. Written for Gemino H. Abad, Peksman is colloquial for promises and honesty. The complete phrase being, “Peksman, mamatay man ako” which is like saying, “Cross my heart and hope to die.” Easy and entertaining at first,
This is a phone call out of season,
(Hilaw?) This is
an angel out of
breath. (Hilo?) This is a watermelon
Out of order. Hello,
He reveals the poem’s/poet’s depth,
The truth is what was taken
Was maybe got, as in the heavy
Pare heavy, mostly labo.
His end Notes reveal that each poem is a well-researched piece and takes from global sources – German folk poems, Spanish literature, Catholic religion, and the Internet; Philippine history and literature; and personal lived-in experiences with popular culture. A reference to the head of the Iglesia ni Cristo patriarch’s support at the Acknowledgments makes one sense a family relationship/connection exists.
Kris Lanot Lacaba in her 8 rants, entitled, “this is not jologspeak” describes
Jologspeak as ”the creation of sense and nonsense” comparing Yoyoy Villame’s feel to write his song, “Butse Kik“ to Paolo Manalo ‘s unleashing the Yoyoy in himself by writing “Jolography”, that is writing in the manner that the academics taught him not to. Yoyoy sang with all his heart when he was told not to sing. Lacaba lists that what people are trained to look for in poetry are imagery, metaphors and objective correlatives. However, in Manalo’s Jolography, one should watch for “movement, metonymies and subjective phonetics”.
The quintessential jolog, Paolo Manalo is an avid Friendster whose blogs includes: “Aethsethics”, a list of what he likes: baduy music of Aegis, Sexbomb Girls, Yoyoy Villame, April Boy Regino, Dongalo Wrecords; and discussing works by Christopher Smart, Marianne Moore, Paul Verlaine, Paul Neruda, Arthur Yap and Yoyoy Villame without anybody questioning his selections; and not making distinction whether his writings are Philippine Literature in English or Pilipino Literature. In his Brokeninglish blog, Manalo looks at the language problem as complications brought by the invasions of Japanese anime and Spanish tv drama dubbed in inaccurate Tagalogs using a lot of English words causing Filipino language to “rupture, collide and shift”. In another blog entitled, Jolographiti, he wrote, “You chalk it on the wall, you make taga it in the stone” referring to Andres Bonifacio’s search of the legendary Mount Tapusi that traps Bernardo Carpio, hoping to free the hero that will free the country from the Spanish colonizers.
Elmer A. Ordonez, responding to jolog speak in “The Other View: Jolography”, labeled himself as “gurang” next to his by-line, discovered the meaning of jolog with humor as, “one who knows the names of the Sexbomb Dancers.” He praised Jolography, as the book that should be in the bookshelf of everyone interested in poetry and popular culture adding, that its author “has plumbed the depths of language used in the streets and has produced lines that do need end notes like James Joyce and T.S. Eliot.“ Like a number of his “forget” generations, Ordonez agrees that Jolog speak is fun.
F. Sionil Jose, National Artist in Literature, after a television appearance with Manalo and the Sexbomb Dancers wrote a personal note to Paolo saying, “these academics, they have made literature so boring, so asinine.” and encouraged him “to have more manifestoes and controversies (about academic poetry and jolog)”.
The play, R’mew Luvs Dew-lhiet, a jolog version of the Shakesperean renaissance romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, shown at the Tanghalang Pilipino, Aurelio V. Tolentino of the Culture Center of the Philippines drove jolog watchers. Jorge wrote that, “Shakespeare does jologs” in the play. This same play was also shown in the University of the East Theatre in November 2006 and if Paolo Manalo knew this, he might have been there too. Using the jolog poetry concept of the play, based on rap to create a hip-hop feel of the verses, Manalo wrote:
R’mew Luvs Dew-lhiet Bakit Wala Na?
Si Dew-lhiett (Cats Racsag), Sexbomb Girl and emote,
Ang range ng emotions magandang i-take note.
Si R’meo (Noel Escondo) pang-Danz Focus
Maypang-magickaway, nangho-Hocus Pocus.
Yes talagang mahal ko and run nitong play.
Kung DVD, sira na sa karere-play,
Nine shows ang winatch I wanna see it again
Para maperfect, kailangan yata take ten!
But the tenth I cannot take, kasi nga tapos—
The End na ang run. Kung puwede sanang ma-pause
I will pause it. Kung pwedeng balik-balikan
I’ll rewind it para wala nang uwian.
Laugh-trip na sana language game never-ending
Move on na daw, everyone should letting going.
Pero IMHO, sa plays there’s no other.
Now wala na [‘to], I can never be sadder.”
The Manila Times Net comments that, “the translations of the play, R’mew Luvs Dew-lhiet are delivered emphatically and go straight to the heart of the Filipino [with its] unrelenting use of Jolog language even in the most tragic and romantic scenes.” Manalo describes the plays dialogue as salpukan ng “Shakespeare at jolog”. Local jologs competing/complementing Shakespeare are the play’s directors, J. Willliam Herbert Sigmund Go and John Victor Villareal. They showed Benvolio dying and languishing, “Ubos na yata load ko dito sa earth,/Low batt na, sa heaven sana ma-divert”; Romeo and Juliet on separate soliloquy sighing, ”ang love kong na-feel ay medyo deep yata”; Juliet lamenting, “Mabibiyuda ‘yata akong virgin”; and together while arguing whether it’s the magtataho sa umaga or the magbabalot sa gabi in the Nightingale and Lark Scene, while voice overs of “Tahooo!” and “Balooot!” are heard one after the other. “Shakespeare’s jolog version” eventually became a model to succeeding plays, for example the UE Drama Theatre’s Esperekengkeng, Esperekangkang, and CCP’s Magno Rubio.
Niño Gonzales writing about, “The Jolog Phenomenon” describes “Jologs”, as a derogatory term for poor urban youth and as a phenomenon unique to Manila; and noted that most authors who write in jolog are Manilenyos and middle class whose writings reveal admiration for the old rich (the conyos) and the lower class (the jologs).
Copong-copong, an on-line dictionary of Pinoy slang gives the meaning of “jolog” as an adjective, “gaudy, unelegant, without refinement in taste [as in] pang-jologs na damit, pang-jologs na abubot (typical jologs get-ups, gaudy accessories).“ It asked, “Siya, when did “siya” became an acceptable pronoun for inanimate objects? What happened to ito and iyon? It listed other contemporary pinoy slang: kulata, tiburcio, autistic, balbonil, gisa, smarts, egoy, bardagol, and XML. Gay language includes: ux, hubag, sheddad, kalechehan, Atenista, tarantations, artistahin, boy ogs, otiks, squid, backlagers, spakels, forgets, aning-aning, uy ay, lollipop, sadili, sinakulo ng Insek, eklavoom, none, wala lang. and limbo.
In Star Cinema’s movie, Jologs, people don’t care for what other people say. Gilbert Perez, its director expounded, “If a person falls for Joey Marquez but siya is sosyal, paninindigan niya ‘yong sarili niya, jologs siya, totohanang tao.” Thus, a person can be “sosyal” (classy, rich, celebrity or all at the same time) and still be a jolog. It’s not an either or (pro)position.
The television program Jologs Guide (March 20, ’06) describes the language as “a common verbal communication among fishwives at your favorite wet market”. The TV however tried to focus on the positive side of the jologs as “true to one’s self and having a good attitude despite the lack of material wealth, which generally refers to all Pinoys.”
One who identifies as, Ang Tanging Jolog blogs, with more than 70 % who live below the poverty line, it’s my way of reminding me that until 100 % of us get what we deserve from our government and from life, I cannot, will not, ever break away from my image of being ‘proudly pinoy, proudly jologs.
Another blogger, APL in, Revenge of the ‘jologs’ , label as jologs the base social existence of the 75 % Filipinos, who are, “native cheap . . . contented with self-created substitutes for things that our economic condition would otherwise not allow us to enjoy”. What scares APL is the thought that history would repeat itself in an incident like EDSA 3 fueled by existing class inequality.
Using the West model when Latin and Greek perished and English flourished as analogy, Professor Gerald Burns (1992), a former visiting American Fullbright scholar/ professor in the Philippines, made a brave prediction on local language survival in favor of the Filipino language versus English. He mentioned Isagani R. Cruz as supporter of this view of, “a much larger group moving within the sphere of an indigenous or vernacular popular culture.”
Monday, December 31, 2007
My Favorite Books
I didn't feel insulted but rather elated when someone accused me of being bookish, because I thought it was one of the highest accolade for a book lover like me. Books support me. I am bookish in the sense that I truly love books and my affair with them will continue until my eyes can still recognize letters and I can find joy in reading. I am bookish if that means what I teach comes from books especially books that were written by authors that are considered authorities in their own disciplines. I am bookish in the sense that I love books that have been lived, tested, and have undergone revisions. I am bookish because books are cheaper and require little time to read as compared to expensive experience.
I like the feel of a new book in my hand and the smell of print. I like to read the preface of a book, the foreword, the introduction, end notes, and about the author/s that some people take for granted as merely decorations in a book. I enjoy running my eyes over its indices and locating topics that sound new and familiar to find out developments about them. I like to scan the bibliography of a book to see if it is well-researched; and the references are authoritative and up-to-date or in the state-of-the art. In short, I am really bookish. After all, I had worked in a library for some years. I am familiar with books and books are familiar with me. However, we are always on last name basis, that’s the way with any books and I.
There is one small Christian book that I wished of having read earlier in life. This is, Gordon Macdonald’s, Ordering Your Private World. In general it tells about my Christian calling to profess stewardship, self-knowledge, a sense of purpose and unswerving commitment. It is comforting to read that one aspect of being a good Christian is to be knowledgeable and to learn by offensive study or by rigid reading. One does not have to make a choice between pride in acquisition of earthly knowledge and heavenly knowledge.
Another book that is forming me still, is The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. For me, the book is like a course that I follow through life; and it is living up to its promise of recovering whatever you have lost in life like, in my case, my senses of safety, identity, power, or integrity. I would be blocked out from human race from time to time and its author, Julia Cameroon would bring me back down to earth. I would be temporarily lost from my artistic pursuit and The Artist’s Way would lead me back to the spiritual path.
In my profession as a Humanities mentor, my personal books, Annotated Art by Robert Cumming, Art Past Art Present by Wilkins, et al and Frida Kahlo: A Modern Master with their beautiful illustrations and substantial texts are indeed very useful in my class presentations. Just as Frida, in her deathbed swooned, “Paintings completed me”, I would like to also say this early that, “Books completed me.”
I would like to mention another favorite book, The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women by Harriet Rubin, which is about a female counterpart yet, antithesis of Machiavelli’s The Prince. What one can learn from this book is that we are responsible for our lives and we can control our destiny by learning from the way The Prince/Princessa has governed his/her kingdom, paraphrasing either Rubin or the political literary master.
I like the feel of a new book in my hand and the smell of print. I like to read the preface of a book, the foreword, the introduction, end notes, and about the author/s that some people take for granted as merely decorations in a book. I enjoy running my eyes over its indices and locating topics that sound new and familiar to find out developments about them. I like to scan the bibliography of a book to see if it is well-researched; and the references are authoritative and up-to-date or in the state-of-the art. In short, I am really bookish. After all, I had worked in a library for some years. I am familiar with books and books are familiar with me. However, we are always on last name basis, that’s the way with any books and I.
There is one small Christian book that I wished of having read earlier in life. This is, Gordon Macdonald’s, Ordering Your Private World. In general it tells about my Christian calling to profess stewardship, self-knowledge, a sense of purpose and unswerving commitment. It is comforting to read that one aspect of being a good Christian is to be knowledgeable and to learn by offensive study or by rigid reading. One does not have to make a choice between pride in acquisition of earthly knowledge and heavenly knowledge.
Another book that is forming me still, is The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. For me, the book is like a course that I follow through life; and it is living up to its promise of recovering whatever you have lost in life like, in my case, my senses of safety, identity, power, or integrity. I would be blocked out from human race from time to time and its author, Julia Cameroon would bring me back down to earth. I would be temporarily lost from my artistic pursuit and The Artist’s Way would lead me back to the spiritual path.
In my profession as a Humanities mentor, my personal books, Annotated Art by Robert Cumming, Art Past Art Present by Wilkins, et al and Frida Kahlo: A Modern Master with their beautiful illustrations and substantial texts are indeed very useful in my class presentations. Just as Frida, in her deathbed swooned, “Paintings completed me”, I would like to also say this early that, “Books completed me.”
I would like to mention another favorite book, The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women by Harriet Rubin, which is about a female counterpart yet, antithesis of Machiavelli’s The Prince. What one can learn from this book is that we are responsible for our lives and we can control our destiny by learning from the way The Prince/Princessa has governed his/her kingdom, paraphrasing either Rubin or the political literary master.
Block Print: Reinventing Grandma Moses
World’s Most Expensive Paintings
2. Garcon a la Pipe (Boy with a Pipe) by Pablo Picasso ($104.1 M). On May 2004, this expensive painting in oil on canvas was sold. It was done during Picasso’s famous Rose Period when as a youthful 24-year-old artist, he settled in the Montmartre section of Paris, France and painted in cheerful orange and pink colors. It shows a harlequin boy holding a pipe in his left hand. Harlequins were usual features of his paintings. The painting measures about 39 by 32 inches.It is owned by the estate of John Hay Whitney and was acquired through a Sotheby auction in New York City.
3. Dora Maar au Chat (Dora Maar With a Cat) by Pablo Picasso ($95.2 M). This painting is currently listed with the FBI’s National Stolen Art File thus, unearthing the identity of the owner as a Saudi royal Picasso aficionado who acquired the painting anonymously in a Sotheby auction. Dora Maar was a French photographer and painter best known as Picasso’s mistress from 1930-1940. She made a name for herself with her photograph documentation of the successive stages of Guernica, another Picasso masterpiece.
4. Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh ($ 82.5 M). Besides his brother Theo, Vincent became closer to his doctor, Dr. Gachet, whom he described on his first impression as looking “sicker than I am”. This painting was purchased by Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito at auction in Christie’s, New York. Saito was so attached to the painting that he wanted it to be cremated with him when he died. Saito died in 1996 but the painting was saved. Vincent painted two versions of this portrait with slightly different color scheme.
5. Au Moulin de la Galette by Perre-Auguste Renoir ($78 M). This was painted in Montmartre in 1876. On May 17, 1990, it was bought by Ryoei Saito together with the Portrait of Dr. Gachet at Sotheby’s, New York.
6. Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens ($76.7 M) was painted in 1611. It was sold to Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet at a 2002 Sotheby’s auction. This is the oldest painting in the top ten.
7. Portrait d ‘Artiste sans Barbe (Self-portrait without Beard) by Vincent van Gogh ($71.5 M). Van Gogh painted this on Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France in September 1889. The medium is oil on canvas, and measures 16 by 13 inches. It is one of the many self-portraits of van Gogh but an uncommon one since his other paintings show him with a beard.
8. Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier (Curtain, Pitcher and Bowl of Fruit) by Paul Cezanne ($60.5 M). Cezanne painted this still-life from 1893-1894. It was sold at Sotheby’s in May 10,1999 to the Whitneys, one of America’s wealthiest families. The Whitneys are venture capitalist, publisher, Broadway show and Hollywood film producer, and philanthropist.
9. Femme aux Bras Croises (Woman with Folded Arms) by Pablo Picasso ($55 M) was painted in 1901 during Picasso’s Blue Period, a sad dark period. It depicts a woman with her arms crossed staring at the endless nothing. Gertrude Stein originally bought the painting from Picasso.
10. Irises by Vincent van Gogh ($53.9 M). This was painted in 1889 while Van Gogh was at the asylum of the Saint Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France in the last year before his death. He called the painting, ”the lightning conductor for my illness”. The painting was influenced by Japanes ukiyo-e woodblock prints as shown by its strong outlines, unusual angles, close-up views and flattish color. Theo submitted the painting to the annual exhibition of the Societe des Aistes Independants in September 1889, together with “Starry Night”, another van Gogh masterpiece. Irises, was sold to Alan Bond in 1987 when it was considered the most expensive painting.
The above ten paintings are now considered the most expensive in the world. With the purchase of Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, Pablo Picasso’s Les Noces de Pierette (The Marriage of Pierette) ($51.,67 M) was moved out of the top ten most expensive paintings. Picasso and Vincent van Gogh, are still considered the most expensive painters with each of them having three paintings on the top ten of above list of most expensive paintings today. Renoir, and Cezanne, each have one painting. The oldest painting was an early 17th century work by Rubens. Most of the expensive paintings were done in representational style. One half of them were sold after the year 2000.
There is another list of expensive paintings with the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci on top. Though, the said paiting is not for sale, the amount of its insurance alone by 2006 pushed Pablo Picasso’s Garcon a la Pipe, to number two. Still an alternative list of most expensive paintings showed their inflation-adjusted value that would exceed the prices of the present most expensive paintings list.
Pablo Picasso is listed in the Guinness as the most productive artist. Since his death in the early 70s, his record remains unbroken. In a list of the world’s twenty most expensive paintings, five are his masterpieces. He topped the list of Artists with Most One Million Dollar Works (334 works for over $1 million) with a total value of works exceeding $ 1.5 billion.
The most expensive painting heard of in the Philippines was the controversial purchase made by the GSISwhen it acquired Parisian Life by Juan Luna (P 46 M) in Christie’s Hongkong at the JW Marriot Hotel where it was auctioned in 2003. This oil painting on canvas measures 44-inch by 39-inch. It is displayed in the GSIS Museum, CCP Complex. A GSIS museum curator shared that so far, Spolarium, the national painting perhaps is the most expensive painting in the country in terms of the negotiations made to bring it to the country. For one, the Philippine government agreed to accept one of the Spanish government’s term which was to include the Spanish subjects requirement in the old undergraduate curriculum. If you translate that into cash, that would be a lot of money indeed which would place it in the world’s Top Ten. Cumming (Annotated Art, 1995) lists that (1) virtuosity, (2) innovation, (3) patronage, (4) artistic vision and (5) role of the artist are what makes a masterpices. Today, these are still what drive the prices of most expensive paintings.
End.
Sources:
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry/Picasso
http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picasso
http:/www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/05/11/appreciating_picasso/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertaibnment/3682127.stm
http://.abc.gallery.com/P/picasso/picasso,html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gar%C3%A7on%Ao_la_pipe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Doctor_Gachet
http://www.thecityreview.com/f00chim1.html
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=947
Cumming, Robert . Annotated Art (1995) London: Dorling Kindersley.
Jav ellana, J. L. & Bordadora, N. “Luna gets export permit, goes on sale today” Philippine Daily Inquirer (2003), p. 1.
GSIS Museum Guided Tour and Visit of the Parisian Life room
HU 101 2nd sem. 2005-2006 term papers & updated with HU 101 2nd sem. 2006-2007 Internet searches for Top Ten.
The ten most expensive paintings in the world are the following: (1) $135 M for the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustave Klimt (2006); (2) $104 M for Garcon a la Pipe (Boy with a Pipe) by Pablo Picasso (2004); (3) $95.2 M for Dora Maar au Chat by Pablo Picasso (2006); (3) $82.5 M for Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh (1990); (4) Au Moulin de la Galette by Perre-Auguste Renoir (1990); (5) $76.7 M for The Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens (2002); (6) $71.5 M for Portrait d‘Artiste sans Barbe by Vincent van Gogh (1998); (7) $60.5 M for Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier by Paul Cezanne (1999); (8) $55 M for Femme aux Bras Croises by Pablo Picasso (2000); (9) $53.9 M for Irises by Vincent van Gogh (1987); and (10) $51.67 M for Les Noces de Pierette by Pablo Picasso.
There is however an unconfirmed rumor buzzing in the art world that $140 M was paid for No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock, the “drip style” master (November 2006). Allegedly, David Geffen, a
The confirmed top ten most expensive paintings are the following:
2. Garcon a la Pipe (Boy with a Pipe) by Pablo Picasso ($104.1 M). On May 2004, this expensive painting in oil on canvas was sold. It was done during Picasso’s famous Rose Period when as a youthful 24-year-old artist, he settled in the Montmartre section of Paris, France and painted in cheerful orange and pink colors. It shows a harlequin boy holding a pipe in his left hand. Harlequins were usual features of his paintings. The painting measures about 39 by 32 inches.It is owned by the estate of John Hay Whitney and was acquired through a Sotheby auction in New York City.
3. Dora Maar au Chat (Dora Maar With a Cat) by Pablo Picasso ($95.2 M). This painting is currently listed with the FBI’s National Stolen Art File thus, unearthing the identity of the owner as a Saudi royal Picasso aficionado who acquired the painting anonymously in a Sotheby auction. Dora Maar was a French photographer and painter best known as Picasso’s mistress from 1930-1940. She made a name for herself with her photograph documentation of the successive stages of Guernica, another Picasso masterpiece.
4. Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh ($ 82.5 M). Besides his brother Theo, Vincent became closer to his doctor, Dr. Gachet, whom he described on his first impression as looking “sicker than I am”. This painting was purchased by Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito at auction in Christie’s, New York. Saito was so attached to the painting that he wanted it to be cremated with him when he died. Saito died in 1996 but the painting was saved. Vincent painted two versions of this portrait with slightly different color scheme.
5. Au Moulin de la Galette by Perre-Auguste Renoir ($78 M). This was painted in Montmartre in 1876. On May 17, 1990, it was bought by Ryoei Saito together with the Portrait of Dr. Gachet at Sotheby’s, New York.
6. Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens ($76.7 M) was painted in 1611. It was sold to Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet at a 2002 Sotheby’s auction. This is the oldest painting in the top ten.
7. Portrait d ‘Artiste sans Barbe (Self-portrait without Beard) by Vincent van Gogh ($71.5 M). Van Gogh painted this on Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France in September 1889. The medium is oil on canvas, and measures 16 by 13 inches. It is one of the many self-portraits of van Gogh but an uncommon one since his other paintings show him with a beard.
8. Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier (Curtain, Pitcher and Bowl of Fruit) by Paul Cezanne ($60.5 M). Cezanne painted this still-life from 1893-1894. It was sold at Sotheby’s in May 10,1999 to the Whitneys, one of America’s wealthiest families. The Whitneys are venture capitalist, publisher, Broadway show and Hollywood film producer, and philanthropist.
9. Femme aux Bras Croises (Woman with Folded Arms) by Pablo Picasso ($55 M) was painted in 1901 during Picasso’s Blue Period, a sad dark period. It depicts a woman with her arms crossed staring at the endless nothing. Gertrude Stein originally bought the painting from Picasso.
10. Irises by Vincent van Gogh ($53.9 M). This was painted in 1889 while Van Gogh was at the asylum of the Saint Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France in the last year before his death. He called the painting, ”the lightning conductor for my illness”. The painting was influenced by Japanes ukiyo-e woodblock prints as shown by its strong outlines, unusual angles, close-up views and flattish color. Theo submitted the painting to the annual exhibition of the Societe des Aistes Independants in September 1889, together with “Starry Night”, another van Gogh masterpiece. Irises, was sold to Alan Bond in 1987 when it was considered the most expensive painting.
The above ten paintings are now considered the most expensive in the world. With the purchase of Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, Pablo Picasso’s Les Noces de Pierette (The Marriage of Pierette) ($51.,67 M) was moved out of the top ten most expensive paintings. Picasso and Vincent van Gogh, are still considered the most expensive painters with each of them having three paintings on the top ten of above list of most expensive paintings today. Renoir, and Cezanne, each have one painting. The oldest painting was an early 17th century work by Rubens. Most of the expensive paintings were done in representational style. One half of them were sold after the year 2000.
There is another list of expensive paintings with the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci on top. Though, the said paiting is not for sale, the amount of its insurance alone by 2006 pushed Pablo Picasso’s Garcon a la Pipe, to number two. Still an alternative list of most expensive paintings showed their inflation-adjusted value that would exceed the prices of the present most expensive paintings list.
Pablo Picasso is listed in the Guinness as the most productive artist. Since his death in the early 70s, his record remains unbroken. In a list of the world’s twenty most expensive paintings, five are his masterpieces. He topped the list of Artists with Most One Million Dollar Works (334 works for over $1 million) with a total value of works exceeding $ 1.5 billion.
The most expensive painting heard of in the Philippines was the controversial purchase made by the GSISwhen it acquired Parisian Life by Juan Luna (P 46 M) in Christie’s Hongkong at the JW Marriot Hotel where it was auctioned in 2003. This oil painting on canvas measures 44-inch by 39-inch. It is displayed in the GSIS Museum, CCP Complex. A GSIS museum curator shared that so far, Spolarium, the national painting perhaps is the most expensive painting in the country in terms of the negotiations made to bring it to the country. For one, the Philippine government agreed to accept one of the Spanish government’s term which was to include the Spanish subjects requirement in the old undergraduate curriculum. If you translate that into cash, that would be a lot of money indeed which would place it in the world’s Top Ten. Cumming (Annotated Art, 1995) lists that (1) virtuosity, (2) innovation, (3) patronage, (4) artistic vision and (5) role of the artist are what makes a masterpices. Today, these are still what drive the prices of most expensive paintings.
End.
Sources:
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry/Picasso
http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picasso
http:/www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/05/11/appreciating_picasso/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertaibnment/3682127.stm
http://.abc.gallery.com/P/picasso/picasso,html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gar%C3%A7on%Ao_la_pipe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Doctor_Gachet
http://www.thecityreview.com/f00chim1.html
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=947
Cumming, Robert . Annotated Art (1995) London: Dorling Kindersley.
Jav ellana, J. L. & Bordadora, N. “Luna gets export permit, goes on sale today” Philippine Daily Inquirer (2003), p. 1.
GSIS Museum Guided Tour and Visit of the Parisian Life room
HU 101 2nd sem. 2005-2006 term papers & updated with HU 101 2nd sem. 2006-2007 Internet searches for Top Ten.
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