'Fernando Zobel in the 1950s' at Ayala Museum

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala Museum presents “Fernando Zobel in the 1950s: The Formative Years” on view until Jan. 17, 2010 at the Third Floor Galleries.

The 1950s or the mid-twentieth century was a time of discovery for Fernando Zobel. After completing his studies at Harvard University in 1949, the start of his career as an artist was a significant turning point in his life. It was a heady period when he juggled different worlds: the responsibilities of the family business, an intellectual and stimulating academic life at Harvard University, the Rhode Island School of Design and at the Ateneo de Manila University, where he taught art history; and the beginnings of his creative work in the company of artists, from the select group of friends in Boston and Providence and in Manila at the start of modernism in Philippine art. He would be involved in the growth of the Art Association of the Philippines and the Philippine Art Gallery, two institutions that nurtured modern artists in the postwar years. Within the decade, he would also begin research and study in Philippine colonial imagery and architecture, archaeology and pre-colonial ceramics, Chinese calligraphy, and Japanese art.

In the 1950s, he would become a significant figure, along with Arturo Luz and Lee Aguinaldo, in the development of non-objective art in the Philippines. Towards the end of the decade, he had attained pure abstraction in the Saeta and Serie Negra paintings.

The exhibition focuses on Zobel’s semi-figurative works of the formative years that eventually metamorphose into non-objectivism. Zobel sought to distinguish and understand Filipino expression or identity through his research in history and culture, as well as in his experimentations and explorations on canvas and paper. Colonial santos, a main research area for Zobel, will be exhibited along with his paintings. The juxtaposition will form a visual study of the creative, intellectual, and expressive toil and quest of one of the influential figures in Philippine art in the 20th century.

For inquiries, call 757-7117 to 21 local 28 or visit www.ayalamuseum.org.