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Lee Aguinaldo Lee Aguinaldo (1933 - 2007) Untitled signed (verso) with dedication to Melba Arribas in 1997 ca 1950s oil on canvas 12” x 16” (31 cm x 41 cm) PROPERTY FROM THE MELBA ARRIBAS COLLECTION Lee Aguinaldo comes from a family of entrepreneurs related to Emilio Aguinaldo, a military leader, and politician who is considered to be the first President of the Philippines. From a young age, Lee showed an inclination towards the arts and resisted the expectation to eventually take over the management of the Aguinaldo family business. After attending the United States military academy and briefly working for his father’s company, he became enamored with the development of American modern art. During his stay in New York as a young boy, Lee Aguinaldo frequented the Metropolitan Museum, where he was exposed to the works of Titian, Rembrandt, and other masters. Fascinated by the emerging influence of the New York School, Aguinaldo sought to produce his own works similar to those of Pollock and de Kooning. Thus, his earlier works were characterized by their inherent spontaneity born out of quick gestural strokes and erratic splashes of paint. But, much like Pollock who once dabbled in surrealism and primitivism, Aguinaldo also experienced a shift in style, practice, and subject matter. This particular piece, despite its year of creation, showcases Aguinaldo’s aesthetic choices from his transitional phase. In it, one can see vestiges of his earlier works through an outer layer of erratic gobs of paint and color. Yet the more solid and recognizable patterns seemingly point towards an epochal shift from traditional Abstract Expressionism to a style that is completely his own.