Provenance: The book Sketchbooks is dedicated and signed by Fernando Zóbel thus: 'Para Sally – El librito este y ademas todo lo bueno que hay '(For Sally – This little book and all the good things it has in it)'

ABOUT THE WORK

"The work at hand is among the last surviving pieces from Fernando Zobel’s first foray into abstraction in 1953, as the artist would destroy many of his earliest abstract pieces. 1953 would mark several significant milestones in Zobel’s life and career. He would be elected the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) President, founded by Purita Kalaw-Ledesma in 1948. 1953 would also represent his struggles between two spectrums of his art: figurative and abstraction. At the Philippine Art Gallery in 1953, Zobel held his debut solo show, exhibiting Philippine and religious themes (with hints of social critique and commentaries relating to the milieu of post-war Manila) rendered in a figurativ style reminiscent of Henri Matisse, who was a significant influ nce on Zobel in these early years. That very same year would also mark his first v nture into abstraction. The work at hand belongs to Zobel’s seminal encounter and experimentation with abstraction, particularly with nonobjective art, a style he included in his course, Introduction to Contemporary Painting, at the Ateneo Graduate School, in 1952. There, Zobel taught that “a painting need have no relation with the appearance of natural subjects. It can deal either with emotions (organic school: abstract expressionism) or with constructions (geometric school).” In this piece, Zobel shows his distinct kind of vibrant and confid nt spontaneity that would gradually emerge in his future ventures into abstraction, beginning particularly in the Saetas. The vivid colors of Matisse can be seen. Blots of interchanging colors of dark blue, light blue, and black are rendered in a pointillist-like technique. Zobel even participated in the Philippine Art Gallery’s First Non-Objective Art Exhibition in 1953. His works Plaza and Tenaza/Snappers were deemed two of the most distinguished by the poet and art critic Aurelio Alvero, who went by the nom de plume “Magtanggol Asa.” Alvero describes non-objective art in the exhibition catalog: “In this new trend, the artist does away with the depicting of the external of the object. He goes into the internal which to him is definitely more valuable. He fragmentizes his subject and finally reassembles the fragments into a composition that completely eliminates cognizable representation.” But Zobel's initial delve into abstraction would only last for a while, as he would destroy many of his earliest abstract paintings and return to his figurativ Philippine themes, in keeping up with the Neo-Realist spirit of brashness in the face of reconstruction and rehabilitation of a post-war Philippines. It can be remembered that Zobel had formed profound friendships with the champions of Neo-Realism during this time: the PAG stars Arturo Luz, H.R. Ocampo, Anita Magsaysay-Ho, and Vicente Manansala. Villalba Salvador notes that Zobel destroyed many of his initial abstract pieces “as he found such endeavors to be lacking in meaning and also somewhat incoherent.” Thus, this particular piece is a rare, indispensable memento of Zobel’s earliest excursion into what would eventually become his legacy in Philippine art. This lot includes Zobel’s Sketchbooks, published in 1954. Zobel conceived the book as something one can carry in the pocket and bring everywhere. “In a sense, these sketchbooks are a kind of diary,” Zobel writes in his foreword. “Primarily, they contain quick impressions of things observed, but in many cases, there are studies, more or less elaborate, for future paintings.” Sketchbooks includes Zobel’s studies for Carroza (1953), his awardwinning piece at the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) Annual in October 1953. (Adrian Maranan)"