In early work, Fernando Zobel reveals his tender affinities

MANILA, Philippines - Holding a sword and a shiny, winged helmet too big for his head, a boy in a red shirt, gray pants and white shoes stands upright, against the silhouette of a tree. In the absence of perspective, the tree and the boy look as though they are of the same size, lording over the space, against an unmistakably blue sky. The oval face balanced by a columnar neck, the boy has a confident expression, gazing towards what can only be his future.

It is a portrait of Eric Pfeufer when he was six years old, painted by Fernando Zobel in the early 1950s as a gift to the boy. The artist, who was then at the early part of what would be a long artistic career, was a close friend of Eric’s parents, Jim Pfeufer and Reed Champion, natives of Cambridge, Massachusetts. “Later in life I forgot where it was,” Eric, now 72, said of the portrait. “And I saw it and it sort of came back and I became very fond of it.”

The portrait was one of the 70 works collectively called “The Jim and Reed Pfeufer Collection: A Four-Decade Friendship with Fernando Zobel” that went under the hammer last Feb. 6 at the Makati Diamond Residences in Makati City. Organized by Leon Gallery, the auction featured drawings on paper and Zobel’s early figurative works which, according to the gallery’s head Jaime Ponce de Leon, “are very rare because you would hardly find figurative works in the local collections.”

The highest-selling work during that night was the figurative work, “Garden Window with a Trumpet,” which Zobel painted after the Pfeufer’s residence in New England. It fetched a cool P33.7 million.  Marked with rich contrasting tones and a burst of yellowy light, it is essentially a still life brimming with potted plants with their symmetrical stems and leaves that jostle with the elegant form of a trumpet made to stand vertically on its mouth.

The Pfeufer collection was brought to Jaime’s attention five months ago by the Hawaii-based art dealer Shelly Geringer who, in turn, was informed of its existence by the California-based art historian John Seed who had been writing a book about Zobel. John and Eric had been in correspondence about the collection for years, deciding on the best possible way to introduce the works, then stored in flat-file drawers and in the basement for decades, back to public awareness.

As soon as he secured the art dealership, Jaime flew to Spain and brought the files of the collection to Rafael Perez Madero, “the right-hand man of Fernando Zobel,” for certification. Rafael, according to Jaime, was aware of the work and the long-standing friendship between Zobel and the Pfeufers.

The best proof of authenticity of the collection comes from the more than 500 letters that Zobel sent to the Pfeufers, some of which referring to individual works and the artistic process that attended their creation. These letters are in the custody of Leon Gallery and which Eric intends to donate to the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art, which Zobel founded in Cuenca, Spain.

Eric, who had spent three months with Zobel when he visited Spain at 18 (“Spain was under Franco then. There was something ominous about it. Lots of women in black.”),  wasn’t aware of the value of the collection — until John and Shelly came along. “We just had a lot of art,” he said. “We never thought what it was worth. I hardly care about (its value) even now.”

The collection had an initial appraisal of in excess of P50M. The large work alone, “Nothing III (Seated Man),” which Zobel painted in the Philippines in 1953 and was exhibited at the Swetzoff Gallery in Boston the following year, was valued between P15M and P20M. “This is the largest conglomeration of Fernando Zobel’s works to be sold in a single sale,” Jaime said.

For Eric, the collection testifies to the enduring bond between his family and Fernando Zobel, nourished and sustained for four decades by their common love of art. In one letter, Zobel wrote to the Pfeufers: “Much love to you. I think of you very often and I like you very much indeed. You have given color to my whole life.”

“He was in love with my parents,” said Eric. “It was a really deep friendship.”