Leo Valledor Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Leo Valledor Art Value Price Guide

Nov. 13, 2024
Leo Valledor, Slantize
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
Leo Valledor Slantize 1985 acrylic on canvas 55 h x 51 w in (140 x 130 cm) Provenance: Private Collection, California This work will ship from Los Angeles, California.
Rago Arts and Auction Center
Oct. 18, 2024
Leo VALLEDOR (1936-1989) USA - American - Philippines
Est: $40,000 - $60,000
Leo VALLEDOR (1936-1989) ; acrylic on canvas / 1966 ; dimensions 37 x 183,5 cm (14 1/2 x 72 1/4 in.) ; frame size 39 x 185,5 cm (15 1/3 x 73 in.) ; signed and dated on verso ; Shipping to USA - DHL $650 , National post with tracking service $450 / Shipping to EU, Middle Assia - DHL $520 , National post with tracking service $380
Art-Torg
Oct. 02, 2024
Leo Valledor: Mixed Lot of 2 Paintings
Est: €4,000 - €6,000
VALLEDOR, LEO San Francisco 1936 - 1989 Title: Mixed Lot of 2 Paintings. a) "Opus Focus". 1964. laquer of wood. 60,5 x 114 x 0,5cm. Titled, monogrammed and dated verso on grey plate: "OPUS FOCUS" L.V. 1964. b) Vice Universa. Ca. 1964. Acrylic on wood. 60,5 x 114 x 0,5cm. Provenance: - Noah Goldowsky Gallery, New York - Kasper König Collection, Berlin Estimated shipping costs for this lot: Arrangement after the auction. Explanations to the Catalogue Rosemarie Trockel Germany Media Art Post-War Art Post War 2010s Framed Shapes Works on paper Mixed media
Van Ham Kunstauktionen
Sep. 26, 2024
Leo Valledor, Dynamingusty
Est: $30,000 - $50,000
Leo Valledor Dynamingusty 1981 acrylic on canvas 107.5 h x 48 w in (273 x 122 cm) Signed, titled, dated and inscribed to verso 'Dynamingusty LCV '81 Exhibited at the TransAmerica Pyramid - Spring 1986'. Provenance: Private Collection, California Exhibited: Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco, 1986 This work will ship from Los Angeles, California.
Los Angeles Modern Auctions
Sep. 14, 2024
Leo Valledor (1936 - 1989) - Movement
Est: ₱1,200,000 - ₱1,560,000
Movement signed and dated 1982 (verso) acrylic on canvas 60” x 72” (152 cm x 183 cm) PROVENANCE: Private collection, Czech Republic Art-Torg, American, European and Ukrainian Fine Art, Prague, 8 December 2023, Lot 205. WRITE UP LEO VALLEDOR High Priest of New York Cool Leo Valledor, one of the few Filipino-American artists to gain significant recognition in the western scene during the 1960s, was a key figure in the Park Place group in New York City. His heritage was a blend of Ilocano roots—his ancestors were among the first migrant workers in California—and a strong command of English and American culture, shaped by his parents’ education under American colonial teachers. Growing up, Valledor was influenced by diverse cultural environments, including the vibrant African American zoot suit culture and the Mexican rasquache, or low-rider, lifestyle. Valledor's artistic journey took a pivotal turn when he earned a scholarship to the California School of Fine Arts. This experience broadened his horizons and eventually led him to New York City, where he developed a deep passion for abstract art. His time in New York was transformative, and he became closely associated with the Park Place Gallery, a groundbreaking collective that challenged the traditional art scene of the 1960s. Linda Dalrymple Henderson, in her book Reimagining Space: The Park Place Gallery Group in 1960s New York, highlights the gallery's innovative approach. Park Place brought together painting and sculpture in exhibitions that contrasted sharply with the more conservative galleries on Madison Avenue. Its spacious environment encouraged the creation of largescale works and fostered interactions between different art forms, including music and spoken word. The gallery became a hub for young, avant-garde artists and played a crucial role in establishing Soho as a center for the burgeoning art scene. After making a significant impact in New York, Valledor eventually returned to California, where he continued to produce avant-garde art, remaining a vital figure in the artistic community until his death. (Jed Daya)
Leon Gallery
Jun. 28, 2024
Leo VALLEDOR (1936-1989) USA - American - California
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
Leo VALLEDOR (1936-1989) ; MOVEMENT ; 1982 ; acrylic on canvas ; dimensions 153 x 182 cm (60 1/4 x 71 2/3 in.) ; signed, dated and named on verso ; Shipping to USA - DHL $735 , National post with tracking service $425 / Shipping to EU, Middle Assia - DHL $545 , National post with tracking service $375
Art-Torg
Jun. 08, 2024
Leo Valledor (1936 - 1989) - Sidekick
Est: ₱1,800,000 - ₱2,340,000
Sidekick dated 1965 acrylic on canvas 12" x 57" (30 cm x 145 cm) PROVENANCE Graham Gallery New York Leo Valledor was undoubtedly ahead of his time. Not only was he a seminal member of Park Place, but his novel approach to abstraction also paved the way for a new kind of modern art. Valledor received a scholarship to the California School of Fine Arts, which opened up new artistic horizons for him and eventually led him to New York City, where he fell in love with abstract art. Park Place Gallery, where Valledor exhibited, was groundbreaking in its approach, showcasing paintings and sculptures together, contrary to the more conservative Madison Avenue galleries. The gallery's large spaces encouraged the creation of expansive artworks and interactions with other art forms like music and poetry. Valledor's profound understanding of color theory, optics, and dimensional illusion, combined with his use of shaped canvases, enabled him to create artworks that actively interacted with the viewing space. Valledor's work resonated with the emerging style of color-field and minimalist art. His distinctive approach involved inventive manipulation, taking on audiences on an aesthetic experience that was truly unique and novel for his time. (Jed Daya)
Leon Gallery
Dec. 08, 2023
Leo VALLEDOR (1936-1989) USA - American - California
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
Leo VALLEDOR (1936-1989) ; MOVEMENT ; 1982 ; acrylic on canvas ; dimensions 153 x 182 cm (60 1/4 x 71 2/3 in.) ; signed, dated and named on verso ; Shipping to USA - DHL $735 , National post with tracking service $425 / Shipping to EU, Middle Assia - DHL $545 , National post with tracking service $375
Art-Torg
Sep. 09, 2023
Leo Valledor (1936 - 1989) - Poleka (Slowly)
Est: ₱2,000,000 - ₱2,600,000
Leo Valledor (1936 - 1989) Poleka (Slowly) signed and dated 1965 (verso) acrylic on canvas 24" x 96" (61 cm x 244 cm) To understand Leo Valledor’s significance in the American art world is to view him in the context of the modernist mid-century, dominated by arguably the world’s most famous painter at the time, Jackson Pollock. Valledor was at the opposite end of a spectrum dominated by Pollock, the man of the New York School whose gestural abstract expressionism would knock Picasso and the Paris School on its ear. Where Pollock was all raw emotion and intense spontaneity, Valledor was cool, intellectual and deliberate. Pollock embodied the romance of the rugged American West and its cowboys, would routinely be photographed in denims, a cigarette dangling like James Dean from the side of his mouth. Valledor, while a native of California, had parents who had been migrants from the Ilocano north; a father who was a fruit-picker who followed the crops leaving him and his mother who ran card games, to fend for themselves. He was a Filipino-American through and through, although he took the shape of a long-haired mod. He was influenced by the black man’s music, jazz and would name his works after, for example the saxophonist John Coltrane, or musical terms. For Poleka, the GreekMacedonian word for “slowly”, the pace of the piece is both jagged and angular. Both ends have the signature sharp edges of his shaped canvases. A similar work belongs to the collection of the SFMOMA, fitting for the melting-pot city that also deey influenced Valledor and his works. (Lisa Guerrero Nakpil)
Leon Gallery
Jun. 17, 2023
Leo Valledor (1936 - 1989)
Est: ₱150,000 - ₱195,000
Wholagin signed and dated 1989 (verso) acrylic on wood 13 1/4" x 8" (34 cm x 20 cm) Leo Corpuz Valledor was a key figure in the New York art scene of the 1960s. Valledor could easily have been a character straight out of the mysterythriller about California life, L.A. Confidential. His mother ran card games out of her house and would eventually be shot (and subsequently die) for her trouble. His father, on the other hand, “followed the crops up and down the coast” but whose primary occupation was being “a playboy.” That father would disappear for long spells, finally abandoning his family for good when Leo was just a child. Valledor would thus be orphaned at age 12 and would essentially raise himself. The San Francisco where Leo grew up was in the Fillmore district which was seething with jive and jazz clubs. In a series of interviews for the Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution, his cousin and fellow artist Carlos Villa, would describe their neighborhood as “a ghetto within another ghetto within a metropolis.” The Filipinos of the area belonged to an association called the Native Sons of Lapog. Lapog was a small town in Ilocos Sur, the Philippine province from where many of the first wave of migrants came. By all accounts, Valledor had a fractured background, an Asian heritage that had an uncanny command of the English language and a grasp of stateside culture, thanks to his parents’ American colonial teachers. Additionally, he would have a coming of age in an atmosphere of African-American zootsuits and the lifestyle of the Mexican rasquache (or low-rider culture.) “He was pretty much by himself,” exclaimed Villa. “And yet, at about 16 and 17 years old, he was doing these paintings in his house that were ten-byten-foot abstract paintings.” Valledor would get by thanks to the idea of the Filipino extended family, possibly renting out rooms in the house he inherited to the fleet of uncles and manongs (the Ilocano term for an older male) who would arrive “fresh off the boat.” Valledor would receive a scholarship for the California School of Fine Arts—which opened an entirely new world for him and would eventually lead him to New York City. He would declare that he had fallen in love with abstract art. In the authoritative Reimagining Space : The Park Place Gallery Group in 1960s New York, Linda Dalrymple Henderson would write, “To understand the history of a gallery as unprecedented as Park Place, one must look first at California, where the majority of its members attended art school and met each other. Valledor was a key piece in the puzzle. As a founding member of the Park Place group, he brought with him his formative experiences in the melting-pot “ghettoes” of San Francisco’s Fillmore, where he would be imprinted with an atmosphere of art, painting, poetry, and music. This was further reinforced by the communal nature not just of the Six Gallery but also of his Filipino background. Park Place would become an address from which alliances and creativity would flow. Villa would remember, “Park Place was a loft building down in Tribeca, and it was on one of the streets that one of the Twin Towers was built. And at Park Place, they had a $35 a month rent , So I had a loft as soon as I got there to New York. I was connected.” Valledor was thoroughly well-connected in an age brimming with possibilities in the civil rights movement and the space race. Martin Luther King would give his “I Have A Dream” speech in the 1963 March on Washington; a man would be on the moon by 1969. The Park Place shows attracted attention almost as soon as the space opened. Its exhibitions featured paintings and sculpture together, revolutionizing the way that new, avantgarde artists could present their art in marked contrast to the more conservative Madison Avenue galleries. Its cavernous spaces invited the creation of large works and interactions with sculpture, music, and the spoken word. Park Place became a significant part of the New York art scene until the late 1960s, putting a face on the city’s art scene for young artists and leading the move to Soho as a center for happenings that would in turn become the lightning rod for a whole new scene. It made art blisteringly cool. Paula Cooper, who would go on to establish her own gallery, was its second director. Valledor would eventually return to his native California where he would continue to produce his avant-garde art. Five of Leo Valledor’s works are in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). In 2019, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York acquired two paintings by Leo Valledor for its permanent collection: Odelight and Serena, both from the year 1964, both acrylic on canvas and each measuring 35 15/16 × 109 ½ inches. They were a generous gift from Valledor’s fellow Park Place founder, the sculptor Mark di Suvero. Leo Valledor is regarded as a pioneer of the MInimalism movement that would dominate the American artistic landscape throughout the 1970s.
Leon Gallery
Jun. 17, 2023
Leo Valledor (1936 - 1989)
Est: ₱150,000 - ₱195,000
Zevenful signed and dated 3/82 (verso) acrylic on wood 14 3/4" x 11" (37 cm x 28 cm) Leo Corpuz Valledor was a key figure in the New York art scene of the 1960s. Valledor could easily have been a character straight out of the mysterythriller about California life, L.A. Confidential. His mother ran card games out of her house and would eventually be shot (and subsequently die) for her trouble. His father, on the other hand, “followed the crops up and down the coast” but whose primary occupation was being “a playboy.” That father would disappear for long spells, finally abandoning his family for good when Leo was just a child. Valledor would thus be orphaned at age 12 and would essentially raise himself. The San Francisco where Leo grew up was in the Fillmore district which was seething with jive and jazz clubs. In a series of interviews for the Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution, his cousin and fellow artist Carlos Villa, would describe their neighborhood as “a ghetto within another ghetto within a metropolis.” The Filipinos of the area belonged to an association called the Native Sons of Lapog. Lapog was a small town in Ilocos Sur, the Philippine province from where many of the first wave of migrants came. By all accounts, Valledor had a fractured background, an Asian heritage that had an uncanny command of the English language and a grasp of stateside culture, thanks to his parents’ American colonial teachers. Additionally, he would have a coming of age in an atmosphere of African-American zootsuits and the lifestyle of the Mexican rasquache (or low-rider culture.) “He was pretty much by himself,” exclaimed Villa. “And yet, at about 16 and 17 years old, he was doing these paintings in his house that were ten-byten-foot abstract paintings.” Valledor would get by thanks to the idea of the Filipino extended family, possibly renting out rooms in the house he inherited to the fleet of uncles and manongs (the Ilocano term for an older male) who would arrive “fresh off the boat.” Valledor would receive a scholarship for the California School of Fine Arts—which opened an entirely new world for him and would eventually lead him to New York City. He would declare that he had fallen in love with abstract art. In the authoritative Reimagining Space : The Park Place Gallery Group in 1960s New York, Linda Dalrymple Henderson would write, “To understand the history of a gallery as unprecedented as Park Place, one must look first at California, where the majority of its members attended art school and met each other. Valledor was a key piece in the puzzle. As a founding member of the Park Place group, he brought with him his formative experiences in the melting-pot “ghettoes” of San Francisco’s Fillmore, where he would be imprinted with an atmosphere of art, painting, poetry, and music. This was further reinforced by the communal nature not just of the Six Gallery but also of his Filipino background. Park Place would become an address from which alliances and creativity would flow. Villa would remember, “Park Place was a loft building down in Tribeca, and it was on one of the streets that one of the Twin Towers was built. And at Park Place, they had a $35 a month rent , So I had a loft as soon as I got there to New York. I was connected.” Valledor was thoroughly well-connected in an age brimming with possibilities in the civil rights movement and the space race. Martin Luther King would give his “I Have A Dream” speech in the 1963 March on Washington; a man would be on the moon by 1969. The Park Place shows attracted attention almost as soon as the space opened. Its exhibitions featured paintings and sculpture together, revolutionizing the way that new, avantgarde artists could present their art in marked contrast to the more conservative Madison Avenue galleries. Its cavernous spaces invited the creation of large works and interactions with sculpture, music, and the spoken word. Park Place became a significant part of the New York art scene until the late 1960s, putting a face on the city’s art scene for young artists and leading the move to Soho as a center for happenings that would in turn become the lightning rod for a whole new scene. It made art blisteringly cool. Paula Cooper, who would go on to establish her own gallery, was its second director. Valledor would eventually return to his native California where he would continue to produce his avant-garde art. Five of Leo Valledor’s works are in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). In 2019, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York acquired two paintings by Leo Valledor for its permanent collection: Odelight and Serena, both from the year 1964, both acrylic on canvas and each measuring 35 15/16 × 109 ½ inches. They were a generous gift from Valledor’s fellow Park Place founder, the sculptor Mark di Suvero. Leo Valledor is regarded as a pioneer of the MInimalism movement that would dominate the American artistic landscape throughout the 1970s.
Leon Gallery
Jun. 17, 2023
Leo Valledor (1936 - 1989)
Est: ₱200,000 - ₱260,000
Nuvu signed and dated 1989 (verso) acrylic on wood 12" x 24" (30 cm x 61 cm) Leo Corpuz Valledor was a key figure in the New York art scene of the 1960s. Valledor could easily have been a character straight out of the mysterythriller about California life, L.A. Confidential. His mother ran card games out of her house and would eventually be shot (and subsequently die) for her trouble. His father, on the other hand, “followed the crops up and down the coast” but whose primary occupation was being “a playboy.” That father would disappear for long spells, finally abandoning his family for good when Leo was just a child. Valledor would thus be orphaned at age 12 and would essentially raise himself. The San Francisco where Leo grew up was in the Fillmore district which was seething with jive and jazz clubs. In a series of interviews for the Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution, his cousin and fellow artist Carlos Villa, would describe their neighborhood as “a ghetto within another ghetto within a metropolis.” The Filipinos of the area belonged to an association called the Native Sons of Lapog. Lapog was a small town in Ilocos Sur, the Philippine province from where many of the first wave of migrants came. By all accounts, Valledor had a fractured background, an Asian heritage that had an uncanny command of the English language and a grasp of stateside culture, thanks to his parents’ American colonial teachers. Additionally, he would have a coming of age in an atmosphere of African-American zootsuits and the lifestyle of the Mexican rasquache (or low-rider culture.) “He was pretty much by himself,” exclaimed Villa. “And yet, at about 16 and 17 years old, he was doing these paintings in his house that were ten-byten-foot abstract paintings.” Valledor would get by thanks to the idea of the Filipino extended family, possibly renting out rooms in the house he inherited to the fleet of uncles and manongs (the Ilocano term for an older male) who would arrive “fresh off the boat.” Valledor would receive a scholarship for the California School of Fine Arts—which opened an entirely new world for him and would eventually lead him to New York City. He would declare that he had fallen in love with abstract art. In the authoritative Reimagining Space : The Park Place Gallery Group in 1960s New York, Linda Dalrymple Henderson would write, “To understand the history of a gallery as unprecedented as Park Place, one must look first at California, where the majority of its members attended art school and met each other. Valledor was a key piece in the puzzle. As a founding member of the Park Place group, he brought with him his formative experiences in the melting-pot “ghettoes” of San Francisco’s Fillmore, where he would be imprinted with an atmosphere of art, painting, poetry, and music. This was further reinforced by the communal nature not just of the Six Gallery but also of his Filipino background. Park Place would become an address from which alliances and creativity would flow. Villa would remember, “Park Place was a loft building down in Tribeca, and it was on one of the streets that one of the Twin Towers was built. And at Park Place, they had a $35 a month rent , So I had a loft as soon as I got there to New York. I was connected.” Valledor was thoroughly well-connected in an age brimming with possibilities in the civil rights movement and the space race. Martin Luther King would give his “I Have A Dream” speech in the 1963 March on Washington; a man would be on the moon by 1969. The Park Place shows attracted attention almost as soon as the space opened. Its exhibitions featured paintings and sculpture together, revolutionizing the way that new, avantgarde artists could present their art in marked contrast to the more conservative Madison Avenue galleries. Its cavernous spaces invited the creation of large works and interactions with sculpture, music, and the spoken word. Park Place became a significant part of the New York art scene until the late 1960s, putting a face on the city’s art scene for young artists and leading the move to Soho as a center for happenings that would in turn become the lightning rod for a whole new scene. It made art blisteringly cool. Paula Cooper, who would go on to establish her own gallery, was its second director. Valledor would eventually return to his native California where he would continue to produce his avant-garde art. Five of Leo Valledor’s works are in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). In 2019, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York acquired two paintings by Leo Valledor for its permanent collection: Odelight and Serena, both from the year 1964, both acrylic on canvas and each measuring 35 15/16 × 109 ½ inches. They were a generous gift from Valledor’s fellow Park Place founder, the sculptor Mark di Suvero. Leo Valledor is regarded as a pioneer of the MInimalism movement that would dominate the American artistic landscape throughout the 1970s.
Leon Gallery
Apr. 22, 2023
Leo Valledor Liberty Rock
Est: $1,000 - $2,000
Leo Valledor (American, 1936-1989) Liberty Rock Silkscreen on paper ed. 43 of 75 Signed and dated in pencil Leo Valledor 1980, lower right Titled in pencil, lower left. Soma blind stamp, lower left.
Larsen Art Auction
Apr. 07, 2023
Leo VALLEDOR (1936-1989) USA - American - California
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
Leo VALLEDOR (1936-1989) ; MOVEMENT ; 1982 ; acrylic on canvas ; dimensions 153 x 182 cm (60 1/4 x 71 2/3 in.) ; signed, dated and named on verso ; Shipping to USA - DHL $735 , National post with tracking service $425 / Shipping to EU, Middle Assia - DHL $545 , National post with tracking service $375
Art-Torg
Feb. 18, 2023
Leo Valledor (1936 - 1989)
Est: ₱1,400,000 - ₱1,820,000
Leo Valledor (1936 - 1989) Enchantment 1966 acrylic on canvas 12" x 61" (30 cm x 155 cm) PROVENANCE: Graham Gallery, New York A member of the Park Place group of New York City, Leo Valledor is one of the rare Filipino-American artists of note. Descended from the first Ilocano migrant workers to arrive in California, he was by all accounts, from a fractured background: an Asian heritage that had an uncanny command of the English language and a grasp of stateside culture, thanks to his parents’ American colonial teachers. Additionally, he would have a coming of age in an atmosphere of African-American zootsuits and the lifestyle of the Mexican rasquache (or low-rider culture.) Valledor would receive a scholarship for the California School of Fine Arts—which opened an entirely new world for him and would eventually lead him to New York City. He would declare there that he had fallen in love with abstract art. In Reimagining Space : The Park Place Gallery Group in 1960s New York, Linda Dalrymple Henderson would write, “To understand the history of a gallery as unprecedented as Park Place, one must look first at California, where the majority of its members attended art school and met each other. The Park Place shows attracted attention almost as soon as the space opened. Its exhibitions featured paintings and sculpture together, revolutionizing the way that new, avant-garde artists could present their art in marked contrast to the more conservative Madison Avenue galleries. Its cavernous spaces invited the creation of large works and interactions with sculpture, music, and the spoken word. Park Place became a significant part of the New York art scene until the late 1960s, putting a face on the city’s art scene for young artists and leading the move to Soho as a center for happenings that would in turn become the lightning rod for a whole new scene. It made art blisteringly cool. Paula Cooper, who would go on to establish her own gallery, was its second director. Valledor would eventually return to his native California where he would continue to produce his avant-garde art. In the work at hand titled Oasis, the requisite green has as its counterpoint a muted red; creating movement in the stillness, receding and coming forward depending on how it is viewed. Five of Leo Valledor’s works are in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), including a companion piece titled For M. In 2019, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York acquired two paintings by Leo Valledor for its permanent collection: Odelight and Serena, both from the year 1964, both acrylic on canvas (Lisa Guerrero Nakpil) Leo Valledor is one of a handful of Filipino-American artists of note. Although he was of Filipino heritage, his father being one of the first Ilocano migrants from the town of Lapog (a hometown shared with another ex-pat painter, Macario Vitalis), Valledor was born and raised in the United States. More to the point, he was a certified member of the California beatnik generation and the New York avant-garde. In San Francisco, he attended art school befriending several seminal figures who he would follow to Soho and create the ‘Park Place’ group. He was very much of the time in the 1960s that would ‘revolutionize’ how art was made, exhibited and perceived. High-ceilinged lofts invited, nay demanded, the creation of outsized paintings and sculptures; “happenings” combined not just the visual arts but music, poetry and all manner of experimentation. Valledor, in particular, was enthralled with jazz music and the work at hand, titled Enchantment commands one's attention like a saxophone solo. Because he was interested in ‘spatial effects of color’, Valledor almost wills the viewer’s vision to follow the jagged lines and triangles of grey purple and black, its shades traveling in intensity depending on how the artwork is lit. He would insist that his works could be — or should be — viewed from different angles; and indeed, doing so, creates many optical illusions of texture and color. A companion work, titled and also created in 1966, is part of the permanent collection of SF MoMa, among other artworks. (Lisa Guerrero Nakpil)
Leon Gallery
Feb. 18, 2023
Leo Valledor (1936 - 1989)
Est: ₱1,400,000 - ₱1,820,000
Leo Valledor (1936 - 1989) Oasis 1966 acrylic on canvas 12" x 61" (30 cm x 155 cm) PROVENANCE: Graham Gallery, New York LEO VALLEDOR HIGH PRIEST OF NEW YORK COOL by LISA GUERRERO NAKPIL Leo Corpuz Valledor was a key figure in the New York art scene of the 1960s. Valledor could easily have been a character straight out of the mystery-thriller about California life, L.A. Confidential. His mother ran card games out of her house and would eventually be shot (and subsequently die) for her trouble. His father, on the other hand, “followed the crops up and down the coast” but whose primary occupation was being “a playboy.” That father would disappear for long spells, finally abandoning his family for good when Leo was just a child. Valledor would thus be orphaned at age 12 and would essentially raise himself. The San Francisco where Leo grew up was in the Fillmore district which was seething with jive and jazz clubs. In a series of interviews for the Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution, his cousin and fellow artist Carlos Villa, would describe their neighborhood as “a ghetto within another ghetto within a metropolis.” The Filipinos of the area belonged to an association called the Native Sons of Lapog. Lapog was a small town in Ilocos Sur, the Philippine province from where many of the first wave of migrants came. By all accounts, Valledor had a fractured background, an Asian heritage that had an uncanny command of the English language and a grasp of stateside culture, thanks to his parents’ American colonial teachers. Additionally, he would have a coming of age in an atmosphere of African-American zootsuits and the lifestyle of the Mexican rasquache (or low-rider culture.) “He was pretty much by himself,” exclaimed Villa. “And yet, at about 16 and 17 years old, he was doing these paintings in his house that were ten-by-ten-foot abstract paintings.” Valledor would get by thanks to the idea of the Filipino extended family, possibly renting out rooms in the house he inherited to the fleet of uncles and manongs (the Ilocano term for an older male) who would arrive “fresh off the boat.” Valledor would receive a scholarship for the California School of Fine Arts—which opened an entirely new world for him and would eventually lead him to New York City. He would declare that he had fallen in love with abstract art. In the authoritative Reimagining Space : The Park Place Gallery Group in 1960s New York, Linda Dalrymple Henderson would write, “To understand the history of a gallery as unprecedented as Park Place, one must look first at California, where the majority of its members attended art school and met each other. Valledor was a key piece in the puzzle. As a founding member of the Park Place group, he brought with him his formative experiences in the melting-pot “ghettoes” of San Francisco’s Fillmore, where he would be imprinted with an atmosphere of art, painting, poetry, and music. This was further reinforced by the communal nature not just of the Six Gallery but also of his Filipino background. Park Place would become an address from which alliances and creativity would flow. Villa would remember, “Park Place was a loft building down in Tribeca, and it was on one of the streets that one of the Twin Towers was built. And at Park Place, they had a $35 a month rent , So I had a loft as soon as I got there to New York. I was connected.” Valledor was thoroughly well-connected in an age brimming with possibilities in the civil rights movement and the space race. Martin Luther King would give his “I Have A Dream” speech in the 1963 March on Washington; a man would be on the moon by 1969. The Park Place shows attracted attention almost as soon as the space opened. Its exhibitions featured paintings and sculpture together, revolutionizing the way that new, avant-garde artists could present their art in marked contrast to the more conservative Madison Avenue galleries. Its cavernous spaces invited the creation of large works and interactions with sculpture, music, and the spoken word. Park Place became a significant part of the New York art scene until the late 1960s, putting a face on the city’s art scene for young artists and leading the move to Soho as a center for happenings that would in turn become the lightning rod for a whole new scene. It made art blisteringly cool. Paula Cooper, who would go on to establish her own gallery, was its second director. Valledor would eventually return to his native California where he would continue to produce his avant-garde art. Five of Leo Valledor’s works are in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). In 2019, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York acquired two paintings by Leo Valledor for its permanent collection: Odelight and Serena, both from the year 1964, both acrylic on canvas and each measuring 35 15/16 × LEFT PAGE: Leo Valledor with his diptych, Echo (for John Coltrane). THIS PAGE: (1) Leo Valledor, For M, 1966, 20 in. x 120 in (50.8 × 304.8 cm), acrylic on canvas is in the permanent collection of the SF Moma. (2) Leo Valledor with his diptych, Echo (for John Coltrane). Leo Valledor, For M, 1966, 20 in. x 120 in (50.8 × 304.8 cm), acrylic on canvas is in the permanent collection of the SF Moma. 109 ½ inches. They were a generous gift from Valledor’s fellow Park Place founder, the sculptor Mark di Suvero. Leo Valledor is regarded as a pioneer of the MInimalism movement that would dominate the American artistic landscape throughout the 1970s.
Leon Gallery
Mar. 05, 2022
Leo Valledor (1936 - 1989) - Alone
Est: ₱1,600,000 - ₱2,080,000
Alone dated 1968 (verso) oil on canvas 48" x 48" (122 cm x 122 cm) PROVENANCE Artist's estate EXHIBITED Art Fair Philippines 2020, The Link, Ayala Center, Makati City, February 21 - 23, 2020 LITERATURE Guerrero Nakpil, Lisa. Leo Valledor: The Outsider of Park Place. León Gallery. Makati City. 2020. p. 26 Valledor was thoroughly well-connected in an age brimming with possibilities in the civil rights movement and the space race. Martin Luther King would give his “I Have A Dream” speech in the 1963 March on Washington; a man would be on the moon by 1969. The Park Place shows attracted attention almost as soon as the space opened. Its exhibitions featured paintings and sculpture together, revolutionizing the way that new, avant-garde artists could present their art in marked contrast to the more conservative Madison Avenue galleries. Its cavernous spaces invited the creation of large works and interactions with sculpture, music, and the spoken word. Park Place became a significant part of the New York art scene until the late 1960s, putting a face on the city’s art scene for young artists and leading the move to Soho as a center for happenings that would in turn become the lightning rod for a whole new scene. It made art blisteringly cool. Paula Cooper, who would go on to establish her own gallery, was its second director. Valledor was thoroughly well-connected in an age brimming with possibilities in the civil rights movement and the space race. Martin Luther King would give his “I Have A Dream” speech in the 1963 March on Washington; a man would be on the moon by 1969. The Park Place shows attracted attention almost as soon as the space opened. Its exhibitions featured paintings and sculpture together, revolutionizing the way that new, avant-garde artists could present their art in marked contrast to the more conservative Madison Avenue galleries. Its cavernous spaces invited the creation of large works and interactions with sculpture, music, and the spoken word. Park Place became a significant part of the New York art scene until the late 1960s, putting a face on the city’s art scene for young artists and leading the move to Soho as a center for happenings that would in turn become the lightning rod for a whole new scene. It made art blisteringly cool. Paula Cooper, who would go on to establish her own gallery, was its second director. Valledor would eventually return to his native California where he would continue to produce his avant-garde art. Five of Leo Valledor’s works are in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). In 2019, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York acquired two paintings by Leo Valledor for its permanent collection: Odelight and Serena, both from the year 1964, both acrylic on canvas and each measuring 35 15/16 × 109 ½ inches. They were a generous gift from Valledor’s fellow Park Place founder, the sculptor Mark di Suvero. Leo Valledor is regarded as a pioneer of the Minimalism movement that would dominate the landscape throughout the 1970s. The work at hand pushes the boundaries of what Valledor would regard as the difference between "how you see" and "what you see". In "Alone", he tests perception by presenting the sparest of colors and shapes.
Leon Gallery
Nov. 29, 2018
LEO VALLEDOR (1936-1989) SELF-PORTRAIT, 1954 OIL ON CANVAS 28 X 28 INCHES (71.1
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
Leo Valledor (1936-1989) Self-portrait, 1954 Oil on canvas 28 x 28 inches (71.1 x 71.1 cm) Signed, titled, dated on the reverse: Valledor Self Portrait 11-17-54 PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ARTIST MANUEL NERI EXHIBITED: San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, California, "San Francisco Art Association 74th Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition," April 7-May 8, 1955. HID04901242017
Heritage Auctions
May. 04, 2016
LEO VALLEDOR (1936-1989) Hello Like Before, 1983 48 x 60 in. (121.9 x 152.4 cm)
Est: $2,000 - $4,000
Leo Valledor (1936-1989) Hello Like Before, 1983 titled, signed with initials and dated 'LCV '83' (on the stretcher bar) acrylic on shaped canvas 48 x 60 in. (121.9 x 152.4 cm) FOOTNOTES Provenance William and Teresa Bourke. A gift from the above to the present owner.
Bonhams
Apr. 02, 2013
Leo Valledor (1936-1989)
Est: $1,000 - $2,000
Myth Tickle, 1980 titled, initialed and dated 'LCV '80' (on the reverse) acrylic on canvas on panel irregular 19 x 23 7/8in (48.3 x 60.6cm) unframed
Bonhams
Mar. 19, 2013
Leo Valledor (1936-1989)
Est: $1,000 - $2,000
Myth Tickle, 1980 titled, initialed and dated 'LCV '80' (on the reverse) acrylic on canvas on panel irregular 19 x 23 7/8in (48.3 x 60.6cm) unframed
Bonhams
Apr. 25, 2008
Leo Valledor (1936-1989, American), painting
Est: $800 - $1,200
Leo Valledor (1936-1989, American), painting "Poleka", acrylic on canvas, signed, titled and dated verso "L.V. - '65", 24" x 96", unframed, overall fair condition, soiling, abrasions, minor paint loss - Provenance: Graham Gallery, NY
Millea Bros Ltd
Apr. 25, 2008
Leo Valledor (1936-1989, American), painting
Est: $700 - $1,000
Leo Valledor (1936-1989, American), painting "Capricorn", acrylic on canvas, signed, dated and titled verso "L.V. - 66", 24" x 120", unframed, overall fair/poor condition, soiling and stains, small dimple impressions to canvas - Provenance: Graham Gallery, NY
Millea Bros Ltd
Apr. 25, 2008
Leo Valledor (1936-1989, American), painting "V-8"
Est: $700 - $1,000
Leo Valledor (1936-1989, American), painting "V-8" acrylic on canvas, signed, dated and titled verso "L.V. - '67", 32" x 110", unframed, overall fair/poor condition, soiling, water stains - Provenance: Graham Gallery, NY
Millea Bros Ltd