RUFINO TAMAYO Same Year and Began a Fruit Store in the Explored the Nature, Sensitivity and Spirituality Merced Market

Rufino del Carmen Arellanes Tamayo was twentieth centuries, marking the rapid advent born on August 25th, 1899 in the Carmen of modern art. Tamayo experimented with Alto neighborhood, at the center of the city of ideas and forms from Impressionism, Fau- Oaxaca. His mother died of pulmonary vism, Cubism and Futurism, among others, tuberculosis in 1911, shortly before the father creating new forms with a primitive spirit asso- had abandoned the family. The future artist ciated with the Mexican. In the following years was in the care of his uncles: Amalia, Leopold after the end of the armed phase of the Mexi- and Sebastian, who left to Mexico City in the can Revolution (1910 - 1917), Tamayo also RUFINO TAMAYO same year and began a fruit store in the explored the nature, sensitivity and spirituality Merced Market. According to Tamayo him- of ordinary people, creating intimate everyday A PORTRAIT self, his first contact with art was through life scenes, saturated with a subtle poetry. collecting, and copying modest postcards reproducing famous paintings, which he Tamayo's art was heavily criticized by the acquired on Palma street, where the artist dominant group of nationalist painters, who took his first art lessons. recognized his talent but reproached him for not using it for the social and political ideals of When he finished his primary education, he the time. Tamayo was referred to as an alleged was enrolled to study accounting with the betrayal of the"Revolutionary Ideals". The exac- intent to take over the family business. How- erbated nationalism environment was a pow- ever, the young Tamayo left these classes soon erful motivation for the artist to leave to the after to attend the National Fine Arts School as United States after his first exhibition, in April a listener before entering formally in 1917. 1926. This exhibition was conducted, by his initiative and resources, in an improvised In his early years as an artist, Tamayo culti- space on Avenida Madero that the young vated a language based on elements from Tamayo rented for a week. Once in New York, some of the European avant-garde that he found the freedom needed to achieve an emerged during the late nineteenth and early aesthetic proposal that mixed elements of con-

temporary European art with insights from the emotions, always away from the description cultural spaces, exhibited in major museums Their arrival to Mexico was celebrated with celebrated with a show at the Palace of Fine creative freedom of the ancient Mexican and literary message, and looking for a sym- and the most exclusive galleries in France, mural painting titled Duality (1964), painted Arts in 1968. cultures. Expressed in his sculptures ceramics bolic depiction of a synthesis that the artist Italy and England, who sought to represent for the lobby of the recently opened National and folk art from Mexico and other civiliza- called poetic realism. his work. Many of his paintings became part Museum of Anthropology in Chapultepec In the seventies Tamayo rethinks its aesthetics tions, they built a highly expressive iconogra- of the most important European collections, Park. For this important official commission, and begins a process of synthesis. In that phy and unpublished beauty. While living in New York or Paris, Tamayo had both institutional and private. Tamayo would Tamayo devised one of the most significant period the forms were refined, but their colors a constant presence in Mexico, where, in 1948, establish its activity center in Paris, while visit- scenes of modern Mexican painting and acquired a juicy opulence, seen in the charac- Many of the most important works of his first organized a major retrospective which later ing New York as well as Mexico. synthesis of his aesthetic ideas. The mural ters of his paintings through an austere geom- creative period were made while the artist helped him to be invited to paint two murals for shows a scene on the symbolic struggle etry; each character or element began to have resided in New York City, where he lived the most important art exhibition space in the His residence in France produced a new between two pre-Hispanic deities that the same sober strength of sculptures created intermittently between 1926 and 1929; and country: the Palace of Fine Arts, where Orozco, change in his painting, which was topped by embody universal complementary opposites: by indigenous cultures. However, these forms permanently between 1934 and 1949, with Rivera and Siqueiros painted previously. the powerful intellectual environment involved Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca. They repre- were also saturated with a certain poetic summer stays in Mexico. in an existentialist component and an reflective sented complementary opposites concepts: enigma. As part of the State recognition to the Tamayo began the 1950s with an invitation and vital atmosphere, which sought to recover day and night, good and evil, war and artist, a batch of 33 works from different peri- By the 1940s, Tamayo managed to develop to represent Mexico in the XXV edition of the the meaning of life. European cities, at the peace, male and female, all seen through an ods becomes part of the collection of the State, a new synthetic figurative way. After testing Venice Biennale, which took place from June time, damaged as a result of the last war, indigenous beliefs. Tamayo also inaugurate designed to enrich the collections of the shapes and colors with various genres of to October 1950, and it was the first time that became a stage for the artist who eventually a retrospective for the Museum of Modern National Institute of Fine Arts. At this time, painting, the human figure was his most Mexico took part in this important global lead to a darkening of his palette. Previous Art. In 1964 he was awarded with the Tamayo is painting a mural for the Hotel important aesthetic concern. His characters event. The sample contained works of the saturated and contrasting colors turned dark National Prize of Arts of Mexico. Camino Real, entitled El Hombre Frente al became solemn figures, sometimes terse, four most important painters of the time: José and ashy, of austere ranges. The colors were Infinito, which condenses its humanistic ideals. symbolic and monumental, due to the clay Clemente Orozco, who died a year earlier, accordingly to the new concerns of the artist, Surveys and national and international exhibi- He also paints another mural for Grupo Indus- sculptures created by the ancient cultures of Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and who considered the “cosmic” as an alternate tions succeeded each other. Tamayo was trial Alfa, El Universo. In 1973 he created, with Mexico. However, with a primitive yet sophis- Rufino Tamayo. The organizers of the bien- scenario to figuration. already an established artist internationally his own funds, the Pre-Columbian Art ticated style, they established a dialogue with nial gave the artist award to Siqueiros, but the and nationally, and the rest of the decade of Museum of Mexico, which he donated to his the aesthetics of Picasso and Matisse, show- European press turned to analyze and Tamayo became aware of the darkening of the sixties brought awards, tributes and hometown of Oaxaca. He had exhibitions in ing a unique personality that earned him one disseminate the work of Rufino Tamayo. the painting and for various reasons he official commissions of importance, like the New York, Paris, Florence, Tokyo and Cara- of the most beloved characters in a cosmo- decided to return to Mexico, after nearly ten murals El mexicano y su mundo for the Mexi- cas. The Sao Paulo Biennale XIV pays tribute to politan and demanding New York, that at the The critics comments multiplied in newspa- years of residence in Paris. However, he had can pavilion of the World Expo held in Mon- him with a retrospective exhibition that time received many of the most important pers and art publications, valued the work of an intense mobility around the world, since the treal, Canada, in 1967, (now at the Ministry includes 185 easel paintings and two murals, European artists. the oaxacan artist as one of the most innova- painter was already a celebrity asked to exhibit of Foreign Affairs) and the mural Fraternidad recognizing him as one of the most significant tive and purposeful and with more personal- in different continents. He also had some for the International Fair HemisFair 68 in San artists of Latin America. In 1979, The Solomon After the Secon World War, Tamayo devoted ity. This fact, among other things, opened orders, for example, for the painting of two Antonio Texas, (now in the UN building in R. Guggenheim New York, celebrates his 80th his painting to the representation of the Tamayo expectations as he abandoned his murals in Paris as well as two large paintings New York). In 1969 he painted Energia for anniversary with a retrospective. The National human experience, without departing from New York residence to settle in Paris, which on canvas with the topic Israel Today and Industrial Club .That decade Tamayo turned Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) the modernist formal experimentation. His became the artistic center of Europe after the Israel Yesterday,which were intended to be the 50 years of artistic work, which was grants him a honorary doctorate. painting resigned the harmony of beauty for end of Secon World War. central part of the decoration of the main hall a thoughtful art that arouses the viewer's of the luxury liner Shalom. interest. He then sought to address the most Tamayo arrived to Paris with an aura of celeb- complex and innovative range of human rity, he had access to the most significant

Tamayo began the decade of the eighties During his last years of life Rufino Tamayo creating works of monumental format, three enjoyed an outstanding recognition with a sculptures and a mural made of glass plates. traveling exhibition that was presented in The sculptures are designed to Monterrey, Moscow, Oslo and Leningrad in the Hermit- San Francisco Airport, California, and UNAM. age Museum --which opened its doors for the He opens the International Contemporary Art first time to accommodate the work of a living Museum Rufino Tamayo, with a collection of artist-- later travelling to Berlin and New more than three hundred works of modern York. He saw his first mural restored, El canto and contemporary art, acquired by him. The y la música painted in 1934 in the then museum building has the connotation of a National Conservatory of Music, where he work of art of that collection, and is designed met his wife Olga. He also finished what by architects Abraham Zabludovsky and Teo- would be his last painting, which he entitled doro González de León in a privileged area El niño del violón. of Chapultepec Park. Rufino Tamayo died long lived without a The inventiveness, quality and variety of his decline in its pictorial proposal, which is work is recognized by the prestigious Vienna universally recognized. His ashes rest in the Abertina Graphische Sammlung. He is revered museum he founded in Mexico City. by the universities of St. Luke in Rome and the Royal Academy in London, the Spanish mon- archy awarded him with the Medal of Merit in Fine Arts and invited him to exhibit at the then newly opened Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid. The Italian government awarded him with the Order of Commendatore of Arts. In Mexico, a national tribute for his 70 years of artistic creation is organised; in Mexico City a monumental exhibition of his work is exposed at the Palace of Fine Arts and the Museum Tamayo. Over 500 easel paintings, some of his murals, a selection of his artwork and drawing, plus an extensive selection of photo- graphs and diplomas realize his dazzling achievements in history. Rufino del Carmen Arellanes Tamayo was twentieth centuries, marking the rapid advent born on August 25th, 1899 in the Carmen of modern art. Tamayo experimented with Alto neighborhood, at the center of the city of ideas and forms from Impressionism, Fau- Oaxaca. His mother died of pulmonary vism, Cubism and Futurism, among others, tuberculosis in 1911, shortly before the father creating new forms with a primitive spirit asso- had abandoned the family. The future artist ciated with the Mexican. In the following years was in the care of his uncles: Amalia, Leopold after the end of the armed phase of the Mexi- and Sebastian, who left to Mexico City in the can Revolution (1910 - 1917), Tamayo also same year and began a fruit store in the explored the nature, sensitivity and spirituality Merced Market. According to Tamayo him- of ordinary people, creating intimate everyday self, his first contact with art was through life scenes, saturated with a subtle poetry. collecting, and copying modest postcards reproducing famous paintings, which he Tamayo's art was heavily criticized by the acquired on Palma street, where the artist dominant group of nationalist painters, who took his first art lessons. recognized his talent but reproached him for not using it for the social and political ideals of When he finished his primary education, he the time. Tamayo was referred to as an alleged was enrolled to study accounting with the betrayal of the"Revolutionary Ideals". The exac- intent to take over the family business. How- erbated nationalism environment was a pow- ever, the young Tamayo left these classes soon erful motivation for the artist to leave to the after to attend the National Fine Arts School as United States after his first exhibition, in April a listener before entering formally in 1917. 1926. This exhibition was conducted, by his initiative and resources, in an improvised In his early years as an artist, Tamayo culti- space on Avenida Madero that the young vated a language based on elements from Tamayo rented for a week. Once in New York, some of the European avant-garde that he found the freedom needed to achieve an emerged during the late nineteenth and early aesthetic proposal that mixed elements of con-

Rufino Tamayo A Portrait

Rufino del Carmen Arellanes Tamayo was twentieth centuries, marking the rapid advent born on August 25th, 1899 in the Carmen of modern art. Tamayo experimented with Alto neighborhood, at the center of the city of ideas and forms from Impressionism, Fau- Oaxaca. His mother died of pulmonary vism, Cubism and Futurism, among others, tuberculosis in 1911, shortly before the father creating new forms with a primitive spirit asso- had abandoned the family. The future artist ciated with the Mexican. In the following years was in the care of his uncles: Amalia, Leopold after the end of the armed phase of the Mexi- and Sebastian, who left to Mexico City in the can Revolution (1910 - 1917), Tamayo also same year and began a fruit store in the explored the nature, sensitivity and spirituality Merced Market. According to Tamayo him- of ordinary people, creating intimate everyday self, his first contact with art was through life scenes, saturated with a subtle poetry. collecting, and copying modest postcards reproducing famous paintings, which he Tamayo's art was heavily criticized by the acquired on Palma street, where the artist dominant group of nationalist painters, who took his first art lessons. recognized his talent but reproached him for not using it for the social and political ideals of When he finished his primary education, he the time. Tamayo was referred to as an alleged was enrolled to study accounting with the betrayal of the"Revolutionary Ideals". The exac- intent to take over the family business. How- erbated nationalism environment was a pow- ever, the young Tamayo left these classes soon erful motivation for the artist to leave to the after to attend the National Fine Arts School as United States after his first exhibition, in April a listener before entering formally in 1917. 1926. This exhibition was conducted, by his initiative and resources, in an improvised In his early years as an artist, Tamayo culti- space on Avenida Madero that the young vated a language based on elements from Tamayo rented for a week. Once in New York, some of the European avant-garde that he found the freedom needed to achieve an emerged during the late nineteenth and early aesthetic proposal that mixed elements of con-

PREVIOUS TAMAYO IN PARIS, 1950

RUFINO TAMAYO. A PORTRAIT

temporary European art with insights from the emotions, always away from the description cultural spaces, exhibited in major museums Their arrival to Mexico was celebrated with celebrated with a show at the Palace of Fine creative freedom of the ancient Mexican and literary message, and looking for a sym- and the most exclusive galleries in France, mural painting titled Duality (1964), painted Arts in 1968. cultures. Expressed in his sculptures ceramics bolic depiction of a synthesis that the artist Italy and England, who sought to represent for the lobby of the recently opened National and folk art from Mexico and other civiliza- called poetic realism. his work. Many of his paintings became part Museum of Anthropology in Chapultepec In the seventies Tamayo rethinks its aesthetics tions, they built a highly expressive iconogra- of the most important European collections, Park. For this important official commission, and begins a process of synthesis. In that phy and unpublished beauty. While living in New York or Paris, Tamayo had both institutional and private. Tamayo would Tamayo devised one of the most significant period the forms were refined, but their colors a constant presence in Mexico, where, in 1948, establish its activity center in Paris, while visit- scenes of modern Mexican painting and acquired a juicy opulence, seen in the charac- Many of the most important works of his first organized a major retrospective which later ing New York as well as Mexico. synthesis of his aesthetic ideas. The mural ters of his paintings through an austere geom- creative period were made while the artist helped him to be invited to paint two murals for shows a scene on the symbolic struggle etry; each character or element began to have resided in New York City, where he lived the most important art exhibition space in the His residence in France produced a new between two pre-Hispanic deities that the same sober strength of sculptures created intermittently between 1926 and 1929; and country: the Palace of Fine Arts, where Orozco, change in his painting, which was topped by embody universal complementary opposites: by indigenous cultures. However, these forms permanently between 1934 and 1949, with Rivera and Siqueiros painted previously. the powerful intellectual environment involved Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca. They repre- were also saturated with a certain poetic summer stays in Mexico. in an existentialist component and an reflective sented complementary opposites concepts: enigma. As part of the State recognition to the Tamayo began the 1950s with an invitation and vital atmosphere, which sought to recover day and night, good and evil, war and artist, a batch of 33 works from different peri- By the 1940s, Tamayo managed to develop to represent Mexico in the XXV edition of the the meaning of life. European cities, at the peace, male and female, all seen through an ods becomes part of the collection of the State, a new synthetic figurative way. After testing Venice Biennale, which took place from June time, damaged as a result of the last war, indigenous beliefs. Tamayo also inaugurate designed to enrich the collections of the shapes and colors with various genres of to October 1950, and it was the first time that became a stage for the artist who eventually a retrospective for the Museum of Modern National Institute of Fine Arts. At this time, painting, the human figure was his most Mexico took part in this important global lead to a darkening of his palette. Previous Art. In 1964 he was awarded with the Tamayo is painting a mural for the Hotel important aesthetic concern. His characters event. The sample contained works of the saturated and contrasting colors turned dark National Prize of Arts of Mexico. Camino Real, entitled El Hombre Frente al became solemn figures, sometimes terse, four most important painters of the time: José and ashy, of austere ranges. The colors were Infinito, which condenses its humanistic ideals. symbolic and monumental, due to the clay Clemente Orozco, who died a year earlier, accordingly to the new concerns of the artist, Surveys and national and international exhibi- He also paints another mural for Grupo Indus- sculptures created by the ancient cultures of Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and who considered the “cosmic” as an alternate tions succeeded each other. Tamayo was trial Alfa, El Universo. In 1973 he created, with Mexico. However, with a primitive yet sophis- Rufino Tamayo. The organizers of the bien- scenario to figuration. already an established artist internationally his own funds, the Pre-Columbian Art ticated style, they established a dialogue with nial gave the artist award to Siqueiros, but the and nationally, and the rest of the decade of Museum of Mexico, which he donated to his the aesthetics of Picasso and Matisse, show- European press turned to analyze and Tamayo became aware of the darkening of the sixties brought awards, tributes and hometown of Oaxaca. He had exhibitions in ing a unique personality that earned him one disseminate the work of Rufino Tamayo. the painting and for various reasons he official commissions of importance, like the New York, Paris, Florence, Tokyo and Cara- of the most beloved characters in a cosmo- decided to return to Mexico, after nearly ten murals El mexicano y su mundo for the Mexi- cas. The Sao Paulo Biennale XIV pays tribute to politan and demanding New York, that at the The critics comments multiplied in newspa- years of residence in Paris. However, he had can pavilion of the World Expo held in Mon- him with a retrospective exhibition that time received many of the most important pers and art publications, valued the work of an intense mobility around the world, since the treal, Canada, in 1967, (now at the Ministry includes 185 easel paintings and two murals, European artists. the oaxacan artist as one of the most innova- painter was already a celebrity asked to exhibit of Foreign Affairs) and the mural Fraternidad recognizing him as one of the most significant tive and purposeful and with more personal- in different continents. He also had some for the International Fair HemisFair 68 in San artists of Latin America. In 1979, The Solomon After the Secon World War, Tamayo devoted ity. This fact, among other things, opened orders, for example, for the painting of two Antonio Texas, (now in the UN building in R. Guggenheim New York, celebrates his 80th his painting to the representation of the Tamayo expectations as he abandoned his murals in Paris as well as two large paintings New York). In 1969 he painted Energia for anniversary with a retrospective. The National human experience, without departing from New York residence to settle in Paris, which on canvas with the topic Israel Today and Industrial Club .That decade Tamayo turned Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) the modernist formal experimentation. His became the artistic center of Europe after the Israel Yesterday,which were intended to be the 50 years of artistic work, which was grants him a honorary doctorate. painting resigned the harmony of beauty for end of Secon World War. central part of the decoration of the main hall a thoughtful art that arouses the viewer's of the luxury liner Shalom. interest. He then sought to address the most Tamayo arrived to Paris with an aura of celeb- RUFINO TAMAYO PAINTING complex and innovative range of human rity, he had access to the most significant MURALS OF BELLAS ARTES, 1952

RUFINO TAMAYO. A PORTRAIT

PREVIOUS RUFINO Y OLGA AT HOME, 1949 RUFINO TAMAYO IN HIS STUDIO, 1981 PHOTOGRAPHY: RAFAEL DONÉZ