25 Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia 7.1 (2017): 25–42 Fernando Zobel and the Making oF the a teneo art g allery : M odern art , P ostcolonial s tatehood , and the U toPian iMagination in t wentieth -centUry PhiliPPines Charlie Samuya Veric ABSTRACT Fernando Zobel de Ayala y Montojo is a towering igure in modern Filipino art and criticism. An award-winning artist and an astute theorist, he founded the Ateneo Art Gallery in 1960. Six years later, he established the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art in Cuenca, Spain. Art histories in the Philippines and Spain are certainly unimaginable without Zobel, yet very litle has been writen about him. With the excepion of a handful of aricles, not much art historical discussion of Zobel exists, especially in the context of the rise of Filipino modern art and the development of Philippine postcolonial state as utopian phenomena. The essay ills this gap. In paricular, I will argue that an understanding of Zobel and his inluence must consider the mutual emergence of modern art and postcolonial statehood, events that cannot be dissociated from utopian seniments deining the historical project of decolonization in the middle of the twentieth century. Moreover, I will argue that Zobel may be considered as a decolonizing voice, a touchstone in postcolonial Filipino art criicism. This essay not