Fernando Zobel 費南度·索培爾 | Sin titulo (Dedicado à Gerardo Rueda) 無題（獻給杰拉爾多·魯達）

Acquired directly from the artist, thence by descent to the previous owner

Private European Collection

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5 April 2014, Lot 135

Acquired directly from the above sale by the present private European collector

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直接得自藝術家，自此家族收藏至前歐洲私人收藏家

香港, 蘇富比，2014年4月5日， 拍品編號135

現歐洲私人收藏家直接購自上述拍賣

‘[Seata] attempts to suggest something both improvised and deeply felt… You might say that the underlying theme is movement… stated in terms of line.’ (Rafael Perez-Madero, ZOBEL/ LA SERIE BLANCA, Ediciones Rayuela, Madrid, 1978, p. 85) 

The allure of Spanish-Filipino artist Fernando Zobel de Ayala y Montojo’s works lies in their ineffable elegance and gestural grace. Active during throughout the reigning era of the lyrical abstract movement in Europe, Zobel mounted exhibitions in the Philippines, Spain, and America, gaining international acclaim as one of the most revered abstractionists of his time.

The present lot hails from Zobel’s early Saeta series, which marked an important breakthrough in his prolific career. Zobel embarked on this pivotal series in 1955 following his visit to a Mark Rothko’s exhibition at the Rhode Island School of Design. Saeta shares an affinity with the spiritual and contemplative nature of Chinese and Japanese calligraphy, an art form that Zobel was fascinated by and took classes in.

Zobel used a surgical syringe to achieve calligraphic lines of the utmost precision, a technique which became the hallmark of his Saeta series. In Sin Titulo white, red, and silver lines come together to form a labyrinth against a silver surface, teasing the senses to establish a relationship with the entangled mass upon the canvas.

Zobel’s approach to painting, aligns with the philosophies of his contemporary Georges Matthieu (Lot xxx), as the primacy of speed of execution is key. Both Zobel and Matthieu’s oeuvres reflect their daring experimentation as they sought to eschew the brush and apply pigment directly, and more instinctively onto the canvas. Embodying the emotive power of gestural abstract, Zobel’s Sin Titulo is a testament to abstract painting’s ability to transcend language or geographic locales to reach a universal audience.

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「（Saeta系列）嘗試表達一些即興而深刻的東西……你可以說，它背後的主題是動作……以綫條作陳述。」（拉斐爾·佩雷斯·馬蒂羅，《索培爾：白系列》，雷耶拉出版社，馬德里，1978年，頁85）

西班牙裔菲律賓藝術家費南度·索培爾的作品迷人之處，在於其無法言喻的優雅以及姿態上的靈秀。索培爾活躍於抒情抽象藝術如日中天的年代，作品曾於菲律賓、西班牙及美國展出，享譽國際，備受推崇。

本作屬於索培爾創於事業早期、見證其豐富創作生涯當中重要突破的「Saeta」系列。藝術家於1955年參觀羅德島設計學院的馬克·羅斯科展覽後開始創作「Saeta」。索培爾鍾情書法並曾研習多時，「Saeta」正與中國及日本書法講求的神韻深思的本質一脈相承。

索培爾以針筒取代傳統畫筆，使線條精準絕倫，並帶書法神韻，成為「Saeta」系列的典型技巧。《無題》在銀色表面之上，以白、紅、銀線交錯匯聚，撩撥感官，引領觀者步入畫面上的重重迷陣。

索培爾的繪畫風格與同輩藝術家喬治·馬修遙遙呼應，而作畫的速度是其中關鍵。二人的作品均反映出創作者大膽實驗的前衛精神，他們不約而同地放棄傳統畫筆，改以更為獨特的手法直接施加顏料於畫布之上。《無題》充分體現姿態抽象的情感力量，見證抽象藝術超越語言、文化及地域界限，觸動全球各地的眾多藝術愛好者。