More than a month after they were pulled out of an exhibit because of doubts expressed by art experts about their genuiness, paintings allegedly by the late National Artist for the Visuals Arts H.R. Ocampo have not been submitted to the National Museum for forensics test.
The owner of the paintings had promised to submit them for lab tests, but sources in the art world and the museum said she had yet to make good on her promise.
“Dilatory tactics,” said one source. “Apparently the delay will continue until the furor dies down or better yet, the issue is forgotten.”
The exhibit took place at the Greenbelt 5 in Makati City. The works were said to have been authenticated by the daughter herself of the National Artist, who died in 1978.
In the catalogue of the exhibit, the owner of the collector might have unwittingly prefigured the doubts that would be cast on the works when she admitted “it was no less than a miracle that the masterpieces in this exhibit came to our possessions in a matter of just one week.”
She added the works came from “two unconnected sources,” whose names she didn’t reveal.
“Unbelievable! H.R. Ocampo is even more prolific, now that he is dead than when he was alive!” said with obvious sarcasm by a renowned artist.
Tomorrow, in Inquirer Lifestyle’s Arts and Books subsection, read more about the questionable paintings in an article by writer and artist Cid Reyes.