Rufino Tamayo (mexican, 1899-1991) - Apr 22, 2023 | New Orleans Auction Galleries In La
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Rufino Tamayo (Mexican, 1899-1991)

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Rufino Tamayo (Mexican, 1899-1991)
Rufino Tamayo (Mexican, 1899-1991)
Item Details
Description
Rufino Tamayo
(Mexican, 1899-1991)

"Female Nude Study", 1928

pencil drawing
pencil-signed, dated and inscribed "Para Arturo afectuosa mente, Tamayo 28" lower center, and exhibition labels from "Friends, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, 1968" en verso.
Matted, glazed and framed.
12" x 10", framed 22-1/2" x 20"

Provenance: B. Lewin Galleries, Palm Springs, California.

Exhibited: Hofstra University, Emily Lowe Gallery, "Line and Form - An exhibition of small sculptures and drawings, from the Friends of the Hofstra Museum of Fine Art," October 28 - November 22, 1968.

Notes: Along with his famouse contemporaries, such as Diego Rivera, Tamayo brought international attention to the Mexican art scene during the second half of the 20th century. Unlike his contemporaries, though, Tamayo's artwork was devoid of a political agenda. Instead, his figure paintings, prints and drawings celebrated "mexicanidad", the essence of Mexican identity. While Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo's "Mexicanness" was part of their socio-political movement, exploring and glorifying the pre-Hispanic indigenous history and folkloric themes, Ruffino Tamayo shied away from their extreme patriotism, believing that art should be universal and not purely for glorification of a particular nation. According to the artist:
"Art, like culture, is international. It's the result of many parts to which we add our own tone."

He looked to art movements that were developing in Europe, such as Cubism and Surrealism, combining these styles with Mexican themes. This innovative blend eventually made him the spokesman for his country's art in the International art world.

In early 1921, Tamayo was appointed head of the Ethnographic Drawing Department of the National Museum of Anthropology, where he was to make ethnographic drawings that would serve artisans to copy designs of pre-Hispanic and popular art. Tamayo was also teaching drawing at various elementary schools in Mexico City, using the new, official Best Maugard Drawing Method, established by the Ministry of Public Education. The method proposed the use of seven elements extracted from pre-Hispanic and popular Mexican art, which according to its author, Best Maugard, were the most recurring: the spiral, the circle, the half circle, the motif of the S, the wavy line, the zigzag line and the straight line. This method revolutionized drawing lessons and it enraged traditionalists. Visionary artists such as Tamayo fully embraced it.

Maugard's influence is certainly evident in this drawing, where a human body is distilled into what appears to be an unbroken sum of varied lines and abstract shapes.
It also is reminiscent of works by the European modernists such as Matisse and Picasso, with their ability to treat a complex subject matter such as a human form with deceiving simplicity.
Condition
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Rufino Tamayo (Mexican, 1899-1991)

Estimate $5,000 - $8,000
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Starting Price $4,400
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