Art and exile: Ding Roces’ storied collection goes to auction
At almost 93 years old, writer/visual artist/art collector Alfredo “Ding” Roces is unloading his and wife Irene’s sizable art collection that they hadn’t brought with them to Australia on exile, at the Leon Gallery live auction on March 15 at 2 p.m. (The gallery is at Eurovilla 1, Rufino corner Legazpi Streets, Legazpi Village, Makati City.)
Asked why he is letting go of a precious trove of Philippine art, Roces, writing from North Sydney, replied, “These days, my age and my health call for bare essentials. It is time to let go of the past. My children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren have their own full lives to live here in Australia. However, I still have a few of my artworks in my home here. Those items in my collection for auction had been stored in bodegas in Manila all these years.”
He said the reason these many items that had been left stored in two rented bodegas was “precisely because it was not possible to take them with us. We thought our stay in Australia would be temporary, that martial law and Marcos would not possibly stay forever. But we were very wrong.”
Exile still allowed him to write and to experiment artistically like doing digital art on his iPad in a home for the aged in Calvary, Corynthia, in Australia.
Among the art books he has authored, some of which are already rare, and which are themselves worth a fortune in the auction market, are: “Phyllis Zaballero,” “Felix Resurrreccion Hidalgo & the Generation of 1872,” “Legaspi: The Making of a National Artist,” “Amorsolo (1892-1972),” “Kiukok: Deconstructing Despair,” and “Filipino Nude: The Human Figure in Philippine Art and a Portfolio of Nudes.”
His soft-cover titles include, again among many: “Rage!: Juan Luna/Antonio Luna/Trinidad Pardo de Tavera” and “Looking for Liling: A Family History of World War II Martyr Rafael R. Roces Jr.”
In the last book, political analyst Vergel O. Santos said, “‘Looking for Liling,’ Ding’s personal quest of his family and cultural roots, served as a primary reference volume for, and provided leads to, a quest of my own which resulted in ‘Chino and His Times,’ an essential biography of the newspaper publisher and patriot Joaquin P. Roces, an uncle of his.”
Writing and visual arts
Alfredo Roces was infected with the collector’s bug by his father, Rafael Filomeno, with whom he lived in a “home embellished with paintings by Filipino masters Hidalgo and Amorsolo, and other objects, including the head of wild boar and deer horns as Papa’s hunter’s trophies.”
His father also handed him “a set of lithographs, which I thought were original drawings at the time, as my first art collection. My papa had purchased these sometime in 1945 from a GI artist who was hawking the set in the streets of downtown Manila. They were signed ‘EJ Dollrieghs,’ and I still treasure them. I have traced the artist’s family and have made friends with his son. Papa also gave me a set of drawings by Fernando Amorsolo who gave these to him when he told Amorsolo that one of his sons was interested in art.”
When asked which he preferred, writing or the visual arts, in expressing himself, Roces said, “Both art mediums hold my interest because they are ambivalent releases for my creative energy. My painting leans toward intuitive visual expression while mental ideas [political and historic commentary] are best expressed via words.”
Santos said Roces’ fluency in two mediums was “enviable on all counts.”
Saturday Group
Roces also was one of the founders of the Saturday Group of artists that used to hang out (yes, on Saturday afternoons) at the café Taza de Oro across from the US Embassy on Roxas Boulevard. He said, “Those were happy formative years, filled with getting to know fellow artists and working together via drawing sessions. As I was writing a daily column for The Manila Times, this activity provided me with some material for my daily column.”
Apart from these, the group sessions at Taza de Oro enabled strong bonds to form with activities like sketching sessions, and working together on an actual artwork through a common venture called “interaction.” Roces said, “Personal bonds were formed through group activities such as basketball, outdoor trips, and visits to fellow artists.”
He clarified that they did not have a basketball team. “What we had was backyard basketball games in my mother’s home in Pasay, which had a basketball court from our early years there. On weekends, some of the younger artists who had gotten together on Saturdays at Taza de Oro also started playing basketball on Sundays in my mother’s backyard. Among these that I recall were BenCab, Tiny Nuyda, Lino Severino, Manny Baldemor, Ed Castrillo. Even HR Ocampo joined us once.”
As to when he will return to the Philippines, he said, “It all depends on my getting a clearance to travel from my doctor. Certainly, I would like to have another show, God and health permitting.
“My doctor says that my present heart condition does not allow me to risk an air flight to Manila. So the possibility of such a trip would depend on the improvement of my present health.”
