About the life of H.R. Ocampo and Fernando Zobel.

1.  
Laririt. Lee. Madamba. Poblete. Rivera
4 IND-1

2. 
National Artist for the Visual Arts

3. Hernando Ruiz Ocampo- or H.R. Ocampo, as widely-
known by art enthusiasts, was born on April 18, 1911in
Manila.
He was a son of Delfina Ruiz and Emilio Ocampo, a
section chief in the Department of Public Works and to
help his family earn money, he started to engage in
various jobs when he was 12 years old until he was 17.
Although he attended and finished high school, he never
went to college.

4. From 1930s to 60s, he became a poet and a short story
writer of consequence, associate editor of the Herald Mid-
Week Magazine, editor of This Week (the Manila
Chronicle magazine), director of a government media
organization and vice president of a large advertising firm
(Philprom).
He was a founding member of a pre-war group of writers
called the Veronicans, before he became a painter.

5. EXAMPLE WORKS AS A WRITER:
SCENES AND SPACES – during the post-war period about
the imperialism of the United States.
RICE AND BULLETS (1937) – story about the protagonist
“Tura”, joining his fellow peasants in a protest against rice hoarders
but eventually shot and killed during the clash with the police.

6.  It has been said that he made the most original Filipino paintings
because he was self taught and he never went abroad due to his
fear that his art would be unduly influenced by foreign art figures
and partly, because of a fortune-teller’s prediction that he would
die from a plane crash.
 He quoted that “the strongest influence on my paintings are the
things that I see around me everyday”.

7.  “Unity, coherence and
emphasis in dynamic
equilibrium.. To me these
three are the basic principles
of a good design, a good
painting.”
 “More than my paintings, I
think those principles are my
main contributions to
Philippine Art. Every time I
attend a symposium or
conference, I hear people
 “If Edades opened the door to art, he opened it
a “little”. But it was Ocampo who kicked the
door wide open for other artists to walk
through.” -Manansala

8.  His artworks were greatly influenced by the
traumas he experienced.
 His earlier works showed bitter social
protests wherein images were marked by
severe reductionism and distortion. The
subjects he chose to depict reflected his
own gut experience of poverty and moral
degradation.

9.  In the 50s, he started to produce
masterpieces of still lifes exalting simple
domestic objects such as earthen pot and
stove, fish and mango, in an abstract style
which was controlled, sensuous and
rational.
 It can be seen in his works a familiar
Philippine theme which was seen in the
form and strong choice of colors (such as
the strong, vibrant yellows, purples and
greens- a Muslim chromatic triad).
 Philippine Baroque was created, with
Ocampo as its leading exponent in
abstract art.

10.  During the 60s and 70s, Ocampo’s
works showcases a paradoxical order.
 His works are in subtlety gradating in
colors and the shapes are irregular.
 Genesis

11.  CCP Curtain

12.  Ocampo remained fixated to human
figures from from 50s, until the 70s.
 Ocampo’s art can be described as
humanist and oftentimes, Christian
elements such as nativities, crucifixions
and pentecosts are present in it.

13. He was the painter of Imelda Marcos’ monument in the Cultural Center of the
Philippines.

14. PLANTSADORA
-presents the hardwork of a Filipina
ironing men’s top clothing and how hard it was
considering the material of the clothing and the
type of iron she was using.

15. TATLONG LARAWAN
-presents Jesus Christ dying
on the cross in between the two
sinners, and also the piece where
Fernando Amorsolo told Ocampo that
he is already a Painter.

16. He had a basic grasp of the principles of modernist color theories, and
intuitively derived techniques based on a unique personal sensibility. He used
color not as a static compositional element; by skilfully exploiting completion
and juxtaposition, he directed the viewer’s eye movement. He meticulously
wielded the fine end of a palette knife and a small blunt brush to create tone
and texture. He also favoured dynamic shapes and forms that motivated his
color values. He produced paintings that pulsate.

17. Abstract is usually associated with the word chaos and in Ocampo’s case, his works
are “chaotic in an orderly manner”. If you look at his paintings closely, you would notice
the neatness and accuracy of every line and curve. Every stroke is done carefully;
there is a flow and rhythm to every stroke. Every color was planned to the precise
gradation and complements each other perfectly; there is subtleness in the gradation
of colors. His works also possessed textures which are either smooth or seemingly
rough. He has a persuasive sense of design. Above all, what immediately grabs one’s
attention is the harmony and balance of the whole.
His nationalistic character can be recognized in the color schemes that he used which
was typically in vibrant hues such as red, green yellow. He shows nationalism indirectly

18. 
Painter of the Most Expensive Philippine Artwork

19. Born in August 27, 1924 (Manila) from Enrique Zobel de
Ayala and Fermina Montojo Torrontegui
Pursued:
o Bachelor of Arts degree in the Philippines
o Medicine at University of Santo Tomas during Japanese
occupation
o Entered Harvard University (Philosophy and Letters) and
graduated as magna cum laude.

20.  Boston artists: i.e. Reed Champion, Jack Pfeufer and Hyman Bloom.
 Discovered the new wave of young Spanish artists and established
friendships with Gerardo Rueda, Luis Feito, Guillermo Delgado and
Antonio Lorenzo.
 In Madrid, he established a studio which he shared with the Spanish
artist Gerardo Rueda and established friendships with Saura,
Sempere, Chirino and Antonio Magaz.
 Musuem of Abstract Spanish Art in Cuenca: established with Gustavo
Torner, Gerardo Rueda, Eusebio Sempere and Antonio Lorenzo
 He established friendships with Carmen Laffon, Gerardo Delgado,
Joaquin Saenz, the family of Antonio Bonet Correa and Juana de
Aizpuru.

21. Boston
Artist
Zobel started painting in the year 1942 when he acquired a spinal
ailment. For a while, his paintings were highly influenced by Boston
artists.
Filipino
Artist
He employed Philippine themes and motifs in his
painting, using vivid coloration and planes that
manifested the influence of Matisse. His work was
characterized by strong lines and simple compositions.

22. Mark Rothko’s works
convinced Zobel that it was
possible to paint in abstract
which led to tho the Saeta
series.
It fell under the category of
Abstract Expressionism
which was also called action
painting. His works were
always painted within more
intimate formats.

23. The effects of light and its
capacity to suggest volume or its
illusion of depth now became
primal qualities in Zobel’s
works.
They were mostly intimate in
scale, contemplative. There was
passion structured into a
fugue.
It was movement culled from
the flight of birds perhaps or the
vibration of foliage in the breeze.
Escalona
(1961)

24. In his Dialogues and
Conversations, Zobel
attained his artistic
composure. The said
painting manifested
the context of
dynamic symmetry.


25. Zobel began painting
landscapes inspired by the
river Júcar.
Fernando Zobel took inspiration
from Cuenca, the Spanish town
where he lived until his death
in, and it is apparent in many of
his paintings.
He uses the palette of neutral
browns and greys.
 JUCAR XII

26. His White paintings were actually
exercises in the abstracting capacity of
vision. He eliminated in succession not
only the features that gave the
landscape its sense of particularity but
also its color. Only greys were used to
indicate the ultimate basic form.
 La Piedra del Caballo (1971)

27. Even the physical appearance of Zobel’s studio was a monument to
careful planning:
o Very neat
o Nothing out of place
o Concepts for paintings were done with the rigor of a seminar
paper
o and the actual execution prepared for like a musical recital.
His paintings were organized within dynamic symmetry where Zobel
often selected the degree of spatial activation necessary. The
sectioning of space was always very subtle, but could be discerned,
and not always mechanically perfect.

28. “When a picture looks fresh, people tend to think that it was improvised. I’m pretty sure
that exactly the opposite took place. In the widest sense of the word, order is one of the
secrets of what I recognize as beauty. Years ago, someone told me that in Japanese, the
same word can mean clean and beautiful. I have given that a lot of thought.”
“Order, and a certain simplicity of composition, probably account for a good
deal of tranquility you seem to find in my pictures. Incidentally, that may explain why I
can’t seem to work directly from a model. There is too much going on. I prefer to trust
the abbreviated sense of order imposed by memory. Memory selects and organizes. It
seems to whisper, ‘This is worthwhile’, and I try to listen. It isn’t all as easy as it sounds.
But when I recognize the results in my work, I feel very pleased.”

29. On May 24, 2008, Zobel's work
titled Noche Clara was sold
at Christie’s in Hong Kong was sold
for PHP 6,000,000, making it the most
expensive Philippine artwork.

30. Despite the fact that abstract is Zobel’s style of painting, he had obviously
different styles as mentioned before hand. He was very tedious and more into
the perfection and order of the paintings by using his strokes and colors and
hues all in his recent paintings. His works show much like a Japanese’s work:
clean and beautiful. Simple yet with class. Despite the fact that some of his
paintings seem like there is too much going on, much against what was stated
just before, it also intrigues the viewers as an order of memory. An order that
organized despite so much going on. Having influences from landscapes and
such, he also dedicates his works to the movement and quickness of the
surroundings, as if trying to capture the flight and speed of them. In his works,
he shows how the organized can become, and how mess can become as neat
as possible with using colors and strokes to his benefits.

31.  