Lot 135
  • 135

Fernando Zobel

Estimate
700,000 - 900,000 HKD
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Description

  • Fernando Zobel
  • Sin Titulo (Dedicado a Gerardo Rueda)
  • Signed and inscribed; signed, inscribed, numbered 314 and dated Jul 20/59 on the reverse
  • Oil and silver leaf on canvas
  • 40 by 50 cm.; 15 3/4 by 19 1/2 in.

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist, thence by descent to the Present Owner

Condition

The work is in good condition overall, as is the canvas, which is clear and taut. There is light wear and handling around the edges of the painting, along with gentle craquelures on the top right and left corners, but only visible upon close observation. Examination under ultraviolet light shows a gentle touch-up spinkled on the bottom right quadrant and a spot of restoration near the bottom left quadrant. Framed.
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Catalogue Note

Fernando Zobel is celebrated for his experimental play with colours and textures to decipher the many nuances of visual language within an artistic construct. The present works Sin Titulo (Dedicado a Gerardo Rueda) and El Rio, perfectly demonstrates his understanding of perceptual imagery to create visceral works of art that resonate with viewers.

A meditation on cognitive expression within an artistic paradigm, his paintings address the underlining influence memory has upon experiences, or within the artist’s worldview, the importance of memories upon his own life story. Inspired by his time spent living in the Philippines, America, and Spain, the artworks are a culmination of his mental and emotional relationships with the world around him. Created almost twenty years apart, Sin Titulo (Dedicado a Gerardo Rueda) and El Rio provide insight into Zobel’s maturation as an artist, and evolution of his aesthetic principles.

“[In my paintings] there are references to the immensity of landscape or, by contrast, to the smallness of an insect or a still life, though in fact, I really wasn’t painting still life’s or landscapes,” Zobel said. “The real subject matter of [my] paintings is movement. Movement in a very wide sense of the word [physically and metaphorically], in the sense that you might say a landscape or a chair has movement1.

A true scholar at heart, Zobel found solace in education, and this appreciation to detail is reflective throughout his oeuvre. In 1949, he majored in literature and history at Harvard University, than enrolled at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1954 to pursue his artistic career. An interest in Chinese and Japanese art further inspired the artist to study Chinese calligraphy under the guidance of Chinese master Ch’en Bing Sun in Manila a few years later.

During his years at Harvard, Zobel befriended artists such as James Pfeufer and Reed Champion, individuals who were part of the Boston Style art movement. Early works from his oeuvre reflect these influences. However it was an exhibition by Mark Rothko that had a lasting impact upon his commitment to abstraction. Sin Titulo(Dedicado a Gerardo Rueda) created in 1959, makes reference to the artist’s early use of a surgical syringe to create a specific effect on the canvas. More importantly, the painting marks the transition to his famed Saeta series produced later that year.

 “You might define the Saetas as drawings in thin lines against a field of colour”, the artist said. “Any two colours, as long as they produced a certain vibration, seemed to work”2. Paying homage to Rothko, the Saeta series celebrated the American painter’s study of colour, paired with Zobel’s experimental painting techniques.

Sin Titulo (Dedicado a Gerardo Rueda) foreshadows this desired aesthetic, for with the influence of a syringe, the lines come together to form a labyrinth, teasing the senses to establish a relationship with the entangled mass upon the canvas. The painting thus becomes a visual achievement of free-based association that provides the audience with a pseudo map to navigate their way through a landscape that is slowly taking shape before them.

Acting as a predecessor to Sin Titulo (Dedicado a Gerardo Rueda), and part of the Saeta series, Hattecvm (Fig. 1) further shows the artist’s maturity with linear expression as means to build up creative momentum in the narrative. Together both pieces reveal the themes that would lead up to the La Serie Negra (The Black Series), and demonstrate Zobel’s growing fascination with colour theory as a philosophy, rather than simply as a device to ground the paintings.

While Sin Titulo (Dedicado a Gerardo Rueda) acknowledges the artist’s burgeoning techniques and themes, El Rio in contrast emphasizes Zobel’s confidence with his medium and methodologies. Though the La Serie Negra (The Black Series) was created from 1959 to 1962, later artworks like El Rio painted in 1976, continue to play with this dichotomy of black and white, challenging the notion of colour theory within the context of these two opposing hues.

“Limited to black and white, I tried to find a substitute for the vibrations formerly produced by contrasts of colour”, he said. “In a sense, colour has been abandoned. Actually though what really disappeared is the background. The idea of a painting as black form against white background, form and background are now fused. Everything becomes background, or if you prefer, everything has turned into form”3.

El Rio highlights this aesthetic. The painting is made up of gradients of black and brown, while neutral greys and hints of red compliment an otherwise white background. Amidst the lights and shadows, a nebula-like mass slowly takes shape. A nod to Rothko, the colours serve to anchor the landscape from its dream-like atmosphere.

Though created years a part, both Sin Titulo (Dedicado a Gerardo Rueda) and El Rio, are very special pieces from Zobel’s oeuvre. The former celebrates an important transition in his artistic growth, for it was a period where he sought out new modes of expression, channelling Rothko and his own memories as inspirations for the narratives. El Rio is a culmination of these learned methods, and favoured themes, which became signature hallmarks in later paintings. As the artist explained, “What I do care about is communicating what Cezanne called his “petite sensation”. I would like [my works] to find an echo. That is what the paintings are all about”4.

1 Fernando Zobel, In Art Things Are Either Necessary or Superfluous, The Christian Science Monitor, April 4, 1984,http://www.csmonitor.com/1984/0404/040400.html

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