Hidden Figures: Anita Magsaysay-Ho's Nude Women

Having lived away from home for more than a decade, I had left off things which I didn't know I had. And two of those turned out to be treasures, whose story needed sharing.

(Hidden figures inside)

Many years ago, in the early 2000's, after a morning meeting with the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, he walked me and a colleague down the corridors of the Met passing by its art shop on our way out.

Although the shop was closed, I could see through its glass walls two sketches in pencil of women in nude poses. On the artwork's bottom right-hand corner was the artist's signature: Anita Magsaysay-Ho.

Of course, I knew who she was! Right there, I  expressed aloud my desire of owning one of Anita's artworks! And I think at that moment, the Universe was listening!

Anita Magsaysay-Ho was a famous Filipina painter, a member of the Thirteen Moderns, an elite group of Philippine painters whose artworks were coveted by art collectors, dealers, and museums. Anita's paintings alone could fetch millions of pesos.

But seeing that those two sketch works drawn with compressed charcoal were priced less than a thousand pesos each, I figured they were a steal! But unfortunately, the shop was closed for lunch!

But as they say, be careful with what you wish for.

The next day, someone delivered a wide, flat package to the office. The elegant, glossy wrapper spelled "METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF MANILA" over and over again, as if to remind me that I should never forget where it came from.

I carefully opened it, un-taping its sides delicately so as not to disturb whatever was hiding underneath its camouflage.

And when I finally unpacked it, there they were, lying on my office table: two nude women who, a day before, were proudly displaying their nakedness on a museum shop, now resting under the lights of a busy office full of people who couldn't be bothered by my excitement - all of which turned out to be a singular cosmic event that casually unfolded in their midst.

The package was accompanied by a note saying that these two sketchworks were gifts! Indeed, the Universe was listening! 

Even as I was typing my gratefulness in an email to the Met's director, I still couldn't believe that I was now a custodian of two artworks of one of the Philippines' six greatest painters. And all I needed to earn it was...wish for it!  I suppose the art universe conspires to reward those who appreciate its existence.

Today, as I discovered this package hidden among the things I left behind, I realized my duty to preserve them. I may need to have them framed first, and probably display them somewhere, someday.

But in the meantime, I thank Anita Magsaysay-Ho for these treasures. Of course, I also thank the Met and the Universe.  

Anita Magsaysay-Ho was a cousin of the late Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay. She was born in 1914 and died in 2012.

(The revered Anita sketched these women 

in 1976 when she was 62.)