My primary interest is on the works of our old masters.  But one can hardly find them now.

Filipino masters of the late 1700s, 1800s and 1900s are now so hard to find as most of them are either in private collections and museums.  I have my share of them and the most interesting part is they are tax deductible for as long as the National Museum issues the certificate.  I have never availed of the privilege up to now.  That’s not the primary reason that I have them.  It’s only because I like them.

Among the contemporary painters of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, to me Nena Saguil’s works are among the best and stand out among the rest.

She is one painter who has fascinated me no end for the intricacy of her works most especially in pen and ink on silk canvas with some of her works highlighted with watercolor.

Nena Saguil (1914-1994) “moved to Paris and would continue her signature works of cellular-looking objects.  Her works are filled with orbs, spheres, circles, mandalas, cells and moons all floating the canvas, her very own interpretation of the cosmos.

“Parisienne Nena Saguil, one of the last revered Filipino modern artist-expatriates, weaves a cosmos of forms on pen and ink.  At first looking like cross-section explorations of plant parts or unicellular organisms under the scrutiny of a microscope, the images later transform into the organs of the elements, the fiber of the universe: dots, bubbles, vortices, rays all delicately drawn to create the vital system of order, of nature congealing in imaginative schemes, in the shape of ecology.  Although Saguil, who died in 1994, worked in the abstract mode, her other works tell us that she had other concerns as well… two paintings sustain the vitality of Saguil’s oeuvre, which was the focus of renewed attention in September 1995 at the Lopez Memorial Museum and will be subjected for further scrutiny at a major exhibit at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1997.  Saguil’s world, indeed is all her own and ours as well.”

We can almost say that Nena Saguil was an environmentalist. 

She gave no titles to her works, but one can easily feel “the vital system of order, of nature congealing in imaginative schemes, in the shape of ecology.”

Nena Saguil’s works, most importantly her works on pen and ink on silk canvas are mesmerizing to look at.  They are so fascinating because of the intricacies of her work and style that I have never seen in the works of other modern abstract artists.

All her works are signed and dated from the 60s to the 80s, at least on the pieces I have in my collection.  They are so unique that I dare any other modern artist to even attempt to fake her works.

Nena Saguil ended blind before she died.  And I can believe it.  Her works are so detailed, delicate and intricate that could have led to her going blind.

If you see one of her works, there is no need to call on anyone to authenticate because only Nena Saguil can only have done it.  I can stare at her works endlessly and not tire of looking at them.  And each time I do on some pieces I have of her works in my collection, I discover more and more each time and wonder how on earth could an artist have had such vast wealth of ideas and imagination.  I refer to her pen and ink works on silk canvas.

The Chinese masters have worked on pen and ink and watercolors that also fascinate me.  But nothing can compare to Nena Saguil’s execution on each and every work she did.  No two things are the same.  Each work of hers is unique on its own.

I often wonder why this outstanding Filipino artist who lived in Paris for decades was never given the honor by our government to be one of our National Artists.  Not because she lived in Paris should she be deprived of it for her works on environment belongs to the world, not only to the Philippines or France.  We must claim her our own before she is claimed by France.

Nena Saguil kept close contact with the Filipino community in Paris and would often visit her homeland in her lifetime that when she died, the Philippine Embassy in Paris took possession of her works she left behind in her studio and took them all back to the Philippines to be handed over to her remaining relatives.

The pieces in my possession came from private owners, mostly friends of Nena Saguil in Manila who acquired them from Nena Saguil herself in the form of gifts whenever she visited the Philippines.

For what I know, Nena Saguil died alone in Paris.  She was never married and had no direct heirs.

Looking at her works, she must have spent her life in her flat in Paris painting day and night for each work of hers (in pen and ink on silk canvas) must have taken so long to execute.  The richness of her imagination must have consumed most of her time including her sleepless nights.  I can feel that she was catching up with time; that there was just not enough hours to consume in a day to bring to fore the enormous ideas she must have had in her mind.

I am one of the deep admirers of Nena Saguil.  There are even nights when I cannot sleep and would gaze on her works on my walls and wonder how on earth was she able to do each and every single piece.

I have not found the answer.

Nena Saguil, a remarkable Filipino artist.