Jose T. Joya is widely regarded as one of the leading figures in modern abstraction from the Philippines. His delicate drawings of people reflect a deep connection with the culture and society of the Philippines. In this drawing, he portrays a quiet moment in the life of a young girl, capturing the scene with refined interplay of light and shadow. Jose Joya graduated from the University of the Philippines (UP) in 1953 with a bachelor's degree in fine arts, earning the distinction of being the university's first magna cum laude. The Instituto de Cultura Hispanica of the Spanish government awarded him a painting grant in Madrid from 1954 to 1955. He completed his master's degree in painting under a Fulbright Smith-Mundt grant a year later. He also received a grant from the John D. Rockefeller III Fund and Ford Foundation to paint in New York between 1967 and 1969. At the UP, he was exposed to the paintings of National Artists Fernando Amorsolo and Vicente Manansala as well as Anita Magsaysay-Ho. Joya held numerous one-man shows since his first in 1954 at the Philippine Art Gallery. In 1981, he was honoured with a retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Philippine Art. In 1987, the French government bestowed on him the Order of Chevalier des Arts et Lettres. He held a number of positions including president of the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) (1962 to 1965); dean of the UP College of Fine Arts (1970 to 1978); chairperson of two Philippine delegations to China (1961 and 1972); a holder of the Amorsolo Professorial Chair in UP in 1985; and he also served as chairperson of the National Committee on Visual Arts, of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts. Jose Joya posthumously proclaimed as the National Artist for Visual Arts by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2003.