This piece is accompanied by a certificate issued by Don Rafael Perez-Madero confirming the authenticity of this lot

Exhibited: Luz Gallery, Paintings and Drawings by Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Herran & Dakota, Manila, January 14 - 31, 1961

Literature: Torres, Emmanuel, Paintings and Drawings by Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Luz Gallery, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

Seeming Accidental Executions — Zobel introduces a vibrant sense of spontaneity and impact in his painting, which in turn results in a work that creates an astonishing sense of calm in the viewer. An austere notion of beauty is clearly evident in the Zobel work Virevia (1960). Virevia is very close in spirit to the saetas except that the painting was done in black and white. It belongs to that group fo paintings done in 1960 and the following years which critic Eric Torres refers to as the “auisterely and subtly atmospheric black and white calligraphies," which have become Zobel’s hallmarks since 1960 in the international scene. In this visual improvisation, what looks like a splash conjures a world of matter reduced to “pure” fields of energy, in a state fo flux, transformation, and becoming. Nothing is still, set, or finished about it. The spontaneity is no chance happening, but deliberate, intellectualized. When Spanish and European critics speak of certain Oriental or Filipino elements in the art of Zobel, they refer to the elements that have to do with the artist’s early fascination with the Chinese language and brushwork. Professing himself to be a Classical painter, Zobel believed in the essence of a painting which is beautiful in itself. When the artist presents for contemplation, it is the result of an inner experience. The idea is to distill the separate experiences of these artists and present them through the sieve of his own sensibility. The work reveals a major side to his character, namely his wish to maintain a balance between a very rational preference for moderation on one hand, and a visually assertive instinct on the other. A year later after Virevia was executed, Spanish critic Antonio Sangria wrote in 1961 about “…the elegant, harmonious, marvelous, floating art of Fernando Zobel". Emphasis here on the word “floating”. In “Sketchbooks” by Fernando Zobel (1954), Arturo Luz says: “In a one-man show some time ago, Zobel exhibited what appeared to be paintings but were listed as paintings and drawings. For Zobel, painting and drawing are at once alike and different. A drawing can be large, colored, and finished. A painting may be small, colorless and simple". Zobel’s formal abstraction, which reveals the workings of a logical reductive vision, is one of the most coherent and rational expositions in all Contemporary Philippine art, and marks a transitional stage in Zobel’s development, as well as providing an introduction to his later style.