Painter and teacher, born in Rhondda, Glamorgan. His parents were Italians who had emigrated to Wales in 1910, Zobole’s father doing surface work at the local pit, his mother keeping a small shop. After serving with the British Army in Palestine and Egypt, Zobole attended Cardiff College of Art, 1948–53, where he and some friends were known as the Rhondda Group. Influences on his work included Marc Chagall and Heinz Koppel, living and teaching in the early 1950s in Dowlais, and like these two artists Zobole brought an often intense personal vision to his work. Scenes of the Rhondda Valley, to which he returned in 1957 after a few years teaching in Anglesey, are commonly in gentle, lyrical colours, nocturnal and dreamlike. Taught 1963–84 at Newport College of Art and was a founder-member of 56 Group.

Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)


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