Dear friends and colleagues
Periodically whilst I have been teaching an introduction to contemporary art at Ateneo University I wander into their gallery. What interests me most is an exhibition of modern Filipino prints on show. The highlight is a wall of prints by Fernando Zobel from the Fifties. It was he who effectively founded the musuem by donating works both by himself and others.
Born in 1924 to a wealthy family, he learned to sketch as a child when bed ridden for a year with a spine problem. In 1946 he left to study literature at Harvard but continued to paint and draw. In 1951 he returned to Manila and got to know other modernist artists. On a briefer second visit to Boston in 1954 seeing an exhibition by Rothko was what supposedly confirmed his belief in abstraction. He took classes in Chinese calligraphy in his remaining years in Manila, but in 1961 he gave up his stake in the family business and went to Spain so he could paint uninterrupted. His influence there, on Spanish painting was considerable. He was the co-founder of the museum of Spanish Abstract Art in Cuenca, Spain. Until his death in 1984 he stayed in Spain
It sounds like an interesting life. I’d like to know more, but artists don’t get biographies here. Eulogies yes, proper biographies no. They don’t like to rake past lives for interesting and embarrassing affairs, arguments, deceits, etc. It’s not part of the culture. There isn’t even, as far as I know, a proper biography of Juan Luna the first major Filipino artist. He murdered his wife and mother-in-law. Given that, if he was English, there would a new biography every year. It’s a shame: a good biography gives you some of the warp and weft of the world an artist makes his work in. In fact, there wouldn’t just be a biography there would be tell-all TV series!
But it isn’t his life I wanted to talk about, it’s the prints – and printmaking in South-East Asia.
He made these prints in the Philippines when he was still finding his way. I like the way in his prints he wobbles between abstraction and figuration. I like the speed and urgency of the lines. I like the little spots of white – the star, the still centre. I like the concision and the feeling for texture. But were his ghost to wander around Manila now – indeed wander the whole of South-East Asia – he would be surprised how little printmaking there is. Would he be smug or disappointed to find out he was still the best printmaker in the Philippines? Disappointed, I think.
Zobel. Woman with hat, 1955, etching, 16 x 25cm.
Zobel. Landscape with star, undated, etching and acquatint, 15 x 10cm.
Zobel. Saeta 1 third state, undated, 10 x 12cm.
Zobel. Paso, 1955, etching, 23 x 15.
Of course, globally, printmaking is less important than it was: there are other ways of doing multiples, especially via photographic means. The market is a big problem too: if you look at the two big auction houses you see that collectors pay a lot for a very few big names, Warhol, Hockney, Lichtenstein, Stella, but are pretty uninterested in anything else. It is a vulgar market. Banksy sells well – which says a lot.
In South-East Asia the problem is even worse because collectors like unique works and they don’t like paper. So, for example, in Indonesia many of the best artists studied printmaking (Aytjoe Christine, F.X.Harsono, Hahan, Ade Darmawan) but rarely make them. Editions of 5 or even less are common. Some artists make the print “unique” by printing on canvas or by selling the sole impression with the woodblock. This is ridiculous: was not the whole point of printmaking that one could make many? If not 500 at least 50 – not 5!
Paper is potentially problematic in the tropics of course with its high humidity, but are there any collectors here who do not have air conditioning and, surely, they could all afford to put a dehumidifier in one of their rooms or buy some solander boxes. The same problem affects drawing: very few people collect them out here. It isn’t seen as a way for young people to collect art; there are no collectors who have focused on prints.
The artists enjoy working with prints. I did a project with 25 artists in Jogja three years ago where they each made prints. It was one of the most fun projects I have ever done – and there were some good prints at the end of it.
Maybe I will do another project like that in the Philippines. Let’s see.
One other thing I liked about Zobel was a diagram I found in a lecture series he did. It is much more organic than Barr’s famous chart. More like a shifting delta than an over-complicated wiring diagram.
The mangoes are in season now, so delicious. In England they are normally disappointing, here so juicy and tasty.
Have a good Tuesday
Tony
PS. But I miss the strawberries, they are rubbish out here.