The province of Cuenca had been a source of inspiration for avant-garde artist Fernando Zóbel. “I have even managed to dream about Cuenca,” he wrote to Gerardo Rueda as bites by Alfonso de la Torre in his Gerardo Rueda, sensible y moderno. Una biografia artistica. “Without knowing how, exactly, with Cuenca, I have managed to fill an unsuspected void I had been dragging around.”
\nThis longing for Cuenca has resulted in another pivotal chapter in Zóbel’s artistic career. Though he had arrived in Madrid in 1959 and met critical acclaim, his move to Cuenca in 1963 marked the start of several series inspired by the captivating region. Initially moving to Cuenca to set up the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español, Zóbel soon found himself with works that are bathed in shades of black and white. The magnificent River Júcar, in particular, which can be viewed from his Cuenca studio takes center stage, was also predominant so taken was he by this place.
\nCarretera de Priego: Los Mimbres is a work painted in Cuenca that is abundantly overflowing with his contemporary fascination with the place. Priego, a town in Andalusia, is situated in the southeasternmost part of the province of Córdoba. The view from the cliff known as Adarave gives way to an over 180-degree overview of the valley and the mountains spotted with olive groves known as Subetica. This was a view that fascinated many artists, including Zobel who had depicted its view of the cliffs in this piece.
\nZóbel’s Cuenca pieces, with which Carretera de Priego counts itself, are characterized by critics as a shining vision within his oeuvre. Jose Hierro wrote in his 1964 La pintura de Zóbel: “Black on white – plus greys achieved through transparency – was his language before. Now, the backgrounds are extensive clearings, like sunny fog. Large serene spaces on which angular shapes are outlined – achieved by overlapping and crossing their frayed bursts –, floating, rich in nuances, despite the voluntary limitation on the palette: blackness and earth [...] And as a whole, it is like the spectre of some unfamiliar body, like an X-ray that reveals the sparkling spirit behind dark bones.”
\nIndeed, Zóbel’s Carretera de Priego echoes the elements of his Cuenca pieces. Hazy and minimalist, Zobel effectively portrays the beauty of the Priego countryside that has captivated artists before him. “Zóbel’s abstraction was always classified as lyrical, despite his affinity to art informel, perhaps because of his use of black and white,” writes Alfonso de la Torre in Fernando Zóbel: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings 1946-1984. With a hint of the Oriental, Zóbel’s Carretera de Priego is a catalog of his jet-set life, as he flawlessly melds his dozens of inspirations that spanned across decades and continents, creating an oeuvre that is totally and unequivocally Zóbel’s
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