As soon as he settled in Spain in 1961, the Filipino-born painter Fernando Zóbel (Manila, 1924-Rome, 1984) set out to create a collection of Spanish abstract art. He believed that it was on a par with what was being done elsewhere, and, in fact, Tàpies, Oteiza, Chillida, Feito and Saura were already triumphing in biennials and major international exhibitions. But his projection here was rather scarce and his best works went abroad.
Thus was born the germ of the Museum of Abstract Art of Cuenca, an artistic adventure for which he had the complicity of Gustavo Torner and Gerardo Rueda and that only five years later became a reality in the Casas Colgadas, an oasis in gray and sad of Franco. The following year, in 1967, it occupied three pages of the Times and deserved the enthusiastic praise of MoMA director Afred Barr: "The most beautiful little museum in the world." Meanwhile, here, "Fraga Iribarne, who at that time was the Minister of Information and Tourism, had not even been aware of the project," illustrates Manuel Fontán del Junco, director of Museums and Exhibitions of the Juan March Foundation, to whom Zóbel donated His collection.
An exquisite selection of its collections -currently the Cuenca museum is partially closed for air conditioning works- has traveled to La Pedrera for a vibrant exhibition -Zóbel would be delighted- in which Tàpies, Millares, Antonio Saura, Antonio Lorenzo, Eusebio Sempere, Albert Ràfols-Casamada or Joan Hernández Pijuan stare at Jean Dubuffet, Pollock, Lee Krasner, Nicolas de Stäel, Alexander Calder or Mark Rothko. In all, The Paths of Abstraction, 1957-1978. Dialogues with the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art in Cuenca brings together seventy works, some of them coming from museums such as the Pompidou or private collections such as that of Pollock's son, who has lent painting No. 5 that closes the show.
Fontán del Junco, and the also curators Marga Viza and Sergi Plans have wanted to include the fragment of a letter that Mark Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb sent in 1943 to the editor of the New York Times after receiving harsh criticism from one of its columnists: “ No set of notes can explain our paintings. The explanation must emerge from the consummate experience between the painting and the viewer. Art appreciation is a true marriage of two minds. And in art, as in marriage, non-consummation is cause for nullity”.
Chillida's imposing sculpture Abesti gogorra IV is the starting point of a stimulating journey full of crossed paths, with coves in European informalism, geometric abstraction, abstract expressionism, kinetic optical art or color field painting. Then the project will jump to Germany and the US “There is still an anomaly regarding Spanish abstract art. Due to its quality, it rivals its contemporaries but it is not yet part of the international conversation”, admits Javier Gomá, director of the March Foundation, who trusts that exhibitions like this one will accelerate its normalization.
In Barcelona, from La Pedrera it will expand to other centers such as the Liceu, the Filmoteca, Foto Colectania, Biblioteca de Catalunya, la Tàpies, Esmuc or Suñol, which hosts Memorias crossed, a new dialogue between the two collections with contributions from seven contemporary artists.
