Juvenal Sansó (b. 1929)
The Courtier
signed (lower right)ca. 1950s
oil on canvas
26" x 20" (66 cm x 51 cm)


Accompanied by a certificate issued by Fundacion Sansóconfirming the authenticity of this lot




Recognized for his unique and seemingly timeless approach to art, Juvenal Sanso has undoubtedly carved a name for himself as one of the most pervasive and influential practitioners in the local art scene. Though Sanso is now widely known for his iconic dreamlike and otherworldly paintings of plant-life and landscapes, the master’s earlier works were eerier and stranger by comparison. Born in 1929, Sanso was well into his adolescence by the time World War II and the Japanese Occupation disrupted the capital of the Philippines. Sanso and his family’s lives were seemingly turned upside down, with the occupation affecting their business as well as their safety. The years of conflict and fear, including the detonation of an artillery shell near Sanso home, which left him deaf in one ear, mentally and emotionally scarred the artist’s gentle and sensitive soul. So much so that during Sanso’s early years as an artist, his works often featured distorted, disfigured, and even grotesque forms and figures. These eerie elements were embodiments of Sanso's own psychological and experiential traumas given form through his canvas. According to Fundacion Sanso’s Museum Director Ricky Francisco “"The horrific experiences during the war caused Sansó's disassociation from the happy, sunlit world that the subject of most of his artworks in the late 1940s to 1950s, leading him to create subjects that were misshapen and disfigured, grotesque even—subjects that represented the darkness of the human soul.” (J.D.)