Provenance:
Gifts from the artist to John Frederick Nims and
Bonnie Larkin Nims

ABOUT THE WORK

This collection of drawings and letters converges the paths of two men of the arts: a celebrated visual artist and a distinguished poet and translator. John Frederick Nims and Fernando Zóbel crossed paths at Harvard University, where the latter took up degrees in history and literature from 1946 to 1949. At Harvard, Zóbel would start venturing into painting even without any formal training. Nims and Zóbel’s four decades of friendship would be marked by written communication that unravels a little-known aspect of the renowned visual artist’s persona. This collection intimately reveals the playful and cordial facets of Fernando Zóbel's personality. Although pictures from Zóbel’s iconic Saeta series are to be found here, many of the drawings in this collection, such as a unicorn, a rocking horse, and a depiction of John Nim’s office, are manifestations of the comical facet of Zóbel’s character, which is not frequently demonstrated in his reserved and consciously deliberated abstract works. These drawings are notable deviations from Zóbel’s oeuvre since the artist is well-known and renowned for his abstractions. After Zóbel gifted two Saeta paintings to the Nims in 1959, he remained in touch with the couple for the next twenty-four years. Zóbel maintained his friendship with John and Bonnie, corresponding with them through letters beginning in October of 1959. Their correspondence continued sporadically until 1983, the year before Zóbel’s passing. Art Professor and author of a monograph on Zóbel, John Seed, says: “Zóbel was an avid letter writer who told one friend that when he lived in Manila, it seemed like letter writing was “…all I ever did there.” Aided by his secretary at the Ayala Company, he would sometimes send out as many as ten carbon copies of the same letter to different friends, leaving a blank after “Dear…” so that individual names could be typed in. A few of his letters to the Nims family are carbon copies, but most of them intimate and hand-written.” FERNANDO ZÓBEL AND THE NIMS Seed further adds: “Zóbel’s letters to the Nims family contain a wealth of anecdotes from the artist’s life: comments about art and culture as well as his views of literary and artistic personalities. Poetry and poets are frequently discussed, and the first letter in the collection includes Zóbel’s attempts to write and translate Haiku poetry with the aid of his Japanese gardener. The letters, many ornamented with drawings, give a fresh, firstperson account of important events in Zóbel’s life and remind us [of] his intellectual vitality and incisive wit.” The drawings at hand are all signed by Zóbel and gifted to John and Bonnie, with the letters dedicated by the artist to the couple. In one of the letters, Zóbel exhibits his poetic eloquence, writing: “Let out where two years intersect, a point selected Jointly by general staffs and engineers, In a wetland, facing rough oceans, never invaded By Caesar’s or a cartesian doubt, I stand, Pale, half asleep, inhaling its new fresh air that smells So strongly of soil and grass, of Toil and gender, But not for long…” Zóbel also expressed his anticipation for Nim’s 1974 book titled Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry, saying: “I look forward most eagerly to ‘Western Wind.’ Your black hole. Who are the good, young poets? (Wait and see).” As such, this lot is an indispensable addition to collectors of Zóbel’s works, who want to have in one’s possession tangible pieces of the artist’s dynamic cleverness and crisp sense of humor.