HINDI MATATAWARANG TALINO

DONATO HOUSE
VIGAN, ILOCOS SUR
(FINAL STUDY)
charcoal on paper
8" x 10"

ANIBONG ALCARAZ DRY DOCK
TACLOBAN CITY, LEYTE
(FINAL STUDY)
March 4, 1977
charcoal on paper
8" x 10"

OLD WOMAN
September 24, 1974
charcoal on paper 8" x 10"

TWO GIRLS AND A BILAO

(FINAL STUDY)
March 5, 1974
charcoal on paper 8" x 10"

I remember in a conversation with Beaulah Taguiwalo, more than ten years ago in a coffee shop, where she said, "Real artistic draftsmanship can be seen even at the simplest of strokes in a sketch. A true artist can convey precise meanings in one movement of the pen or brush." Those words rang true again when I got hold of these drawings from one of the greatest artists our country has produced - that of Jose Joya.

My friend Budi told me excitedly on my mobile, "Pare, better take a look at what I have for you! Drawings of Joya. They're eight of them. Am sending 4 over for you to sell!"

"You sure about that?", I asked him with an doubting tone.

________


"I've been staring at these drawings for the past half hour and I do say they are beautiful and you can obviously see these are the strokes of a master. Pag master talaga ang gumawa, hindi mo maatawaran ang talento no", I told Budi the next day through text.

"Sinabi mo pa!" came his reply.

________

Am attaching here a couple of the sketches I've been going goo-goo-gah-gah over for the past few days.


Note:

I placed the sketches online on ebay. They were snapped up in less than a week. And as a reward, I got another sketch sent to me a few days ago - a male nude done by the maestro in 1975. I'm keeping that one, hehehehe...

Oh, and here's a bit of a story behind the sketches. The original owner of these works was one of the maestro's former "models" (I suspect one of his lovers. He's been known to sketch his male paramours in the buff.) When the former owner of the sketches was a young man, he did the scene - drugs, parties, rock and roll, and was also the artist's companion for several months. It was also during these months that the maestro was doing the drafts for his Book of Sketches - a published tome of the artist's works.

The former owner of these sketches has had a series of bad luck forcing him to sell these works through my friend and eventually through me. Some of the drawings that I eventually sold through ebay, he claims to be drafts of the actual pieces in the book. I still have to see the book though and check if what he said is true.

Oh, and the sketch of the male nude that I'm keeping for myself, it's the former owner of these sketches. (Now why do I feel like a peeping tom? Hmm...)

MALE NUDE
graphite on paper
32. 5 cm. x 21.5 cm.