(Filippino/Spanish, 1924-1984)

[Espejo] (Mirror), 1963, signed lower left "Zóbel" and signed and inscribed and numbered "63-57" verso, oil on canvas, 21-5/8 x 15 in.; original lattice-type frame, 22-3/8 x 15-3/4 in.

Note:

This work will be included in the forth-coming catalogue of Zóbel's paintings, directed by the specialist Alfonso de la Torre with Rafael Pérez Madero. According to Alfonso de la Torre it was painted on December 21, 1963.

Fernando Zóbel was born in the Philippines to prominent Spanish parents. His upbringing was difficult as he struggled with health issues that often left him in bed. He passed the time by reading voraciously and drawing. Art became his life and he was quoted as saying, "Critics have asked me what I did with the anquish in my life. My answer is that I leave it at home where it belongs, since it has nothing to do with my painting."

A brilliant businessman, artist and advocate for modern art in both Spain and the Philippines, he was greatly influenced by Mark Rothko and studied Chinese and Japanese calligraphy. He studied in the United States, both at Harvard and the Rhode Island School of Design as well as under the Chinese master Ch'en Bing Sun. In his double identity, he has established himself as one of the most important Filipino abstract artists. 

This work, painted at perhaps the height of his career, marks a transition away from the Serie Negra  to the two series, Dialogos and to the Serie Blanca. 

two punctures, one repaired with associated retouch (1985), deterioration of tacking edge mostly at left edge, some paint accretion (spatter); frame with abrasions