HOMECOMING: The Buncio Collection of Philippine Art. By Reuben Cañete. This publication brings to the fore the previously undocumented collection of' Philippine Art by art collector, businessman, and unionist, Manuel "Nonoy" Buncio. Collected over a span of two decades, the central feature of this collection (and the focus of this book) is the six paintings signed by Carlos "Botong" Villaluz Francisco (1912-1969), National Artist for Visual Arts. These paintings illustrate a previously unknown capacity of the artist to execute large easel works for foreign, specifically American, patrons during his artistic peak from the late 1930s to the early 1960s.
The circumstances of these artworks’ acquisition, its return to the Philippines, and the discussion of its aesthetic and iconographical characteristics that can argue for their case of provenance is then undertaken by the author, a noted scholar on Botong Francisco. Mr. Cañete has spent nearly two decades compiling information on the artist from local museums, as well Botong's acquaintances from the artist’s hometown in Angono, Rizal.
