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"Born in Oaxaca near the ancient Zapotec site of Monte Alban, Tamayo grew up in Mexico when the mural art of Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros was at its zenith, passionately expressing the social themes of the Revolution. Though sympathetic with the revolution, Tamayo chose a poetic statement instead of political rhetoric for his art. He found deep personal and artistic affinity with his own Zapotec Indian background, as well as with other early Mexican Indians. Known as the “Zapotec Cezanne,” Tamayo’s work combines Mexican pre-Columbian myth and popular art with technical experimentation and color, texture, and an innovative utilization of line and plane. Tamayo spent nearly 20 years in New York City beginning in the early 1930s, where he observed current art movements both in the U. S. and in Europe. He widened his cosmopolitan experience by going to Europe for the first time in 1949. Of the painters in Paris, he most admired Braque for his treatment of color, texture and form. Tamayo’s artistic success led to an invitation to exhibit at the Venice Biennale in 1950. From then on he exhibited in major European and North and South American cities.
Nació en Oaxaca, México, cerca del antiguo asentamiento zapoteca de Monte Alban, y durante su vida vio cómo Rivera, Orozco y Siqueiros llegaban a la cúspide de su arte, con la expresión apasionada de los temas sociales de la revolución. Aunque simpatizo con la revolución, él eligió una veta poética para sus obras, en lugar de la retórica politica. Descubrió una honda afinidad personal y artistica con sus propios ancestros zapotecas, así como con otras culturas indígenas. Llegó a ser conocido como el “Cézanne zapoteca”, por su combinación del arte popular y la mitología precolombina, con la experimentación técnica, el color, la textura y el empleo innovador de la linea y el plano. A partir de comienzos de la década del 30, Tamayo pasó casi 20 años en la ciudad de Nueva York, donde fue testigo de las vanguardias artísticas estadounidenses y europeas. Y extendió su experiencia cosmopolita a Europa en 1949, cuando viajó por primera vez a París. De los pintores que pudo ver allí, uno de los que más le impresionó fue Braque, por su tratamiento del color, la forma y la textura. Su éxito artistico le valió una invitación para participar en la Bienal de Venecia de 1950, y, a partir de ahí, Tamayo expuso su obra en las principales ciudades de Europa y América.
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Rufino Tamayo descended from full-blooded Zapotec Indians – a major Pre-Colombian civilization dating back 2500 years. Through his life he defended a “traditional Mexico” rooted, to him, in Pre-Hispanic art. In 1921, working as an ethnographic draftsman for the National Museum of Anthropology, Tamayo encountered much Aztec, Mayan, and Toltec sculpture. Personal heritage and cultural history deeply affected his work.
Tamayo opposed the prominent “revolutionary” Mexican muralists (Orozco, Rivera, and Siqueiros). Whereas his contemporaries invented arguably propagandistic, government-sponsored public works, Tamayo remained politically neutral, seeking instead a Modernist technique focused on form/color/texture. Considered an “outsider” in Mexico but increasingly popular elsewhere, Tamayo left what he called his “oppressive” homeland (1926), subsequently living in the U.S./Paris for two decades.
Stylistically the work blends Mexican folk-art with European Modern movements influenced by Matisse and Braque. Tamayo focused on sophisticated, abstracted compositions and emphasized form, strong color, and surface texture. Typical subjects include animals and portraits.
Collaboration with artist/gallery-owner Lea Remba (1974) resulted in an important new printmaking method they called Mixografia. Remba: “The artist created a collage . . . out of various materials such as charred wood, cotton . . . which we would then cast in copper as a printing plate . . . Making our own paper for editions allowed the ink to be absorbed and created a fresco-like quality to the finished works.” Tamayo and Remba’s 17-year partnership resulted in 80 Mixografia editions.
In 1974 Tomayo donated his collection of Pre-Hispanic art to his native city, Oaxaca (Tamayo Museum of Pre-Spanish Mexican Art). In 1988 the Mexican government accorded Tamayo its highest award, the Belisario Dominguez Medal of Honor, for distinguished lifetime contributions toward the welfare of the nation. At age 90 Tamayo finished his last series of works, lithographs displaying restless, spirited compositions and biting color.
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Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
"Born in Mexico in the generation of the tres grandes (Rivera, Orozco, and Siquieros), but too young to participate in any real revolutionary events, Rufino Tamayo separated himself from mural painting which dominated Mexican art in the early 20th century. While mural painting functioned as a grand, narrative response to the social injustices involved with the Mexican Revolution, and as a platform for depicting picturesque Mexican scenes, Tamayo wanted to express real everyday Mexican life. The motivation to depict the true lifestyle that he experienced living in Mexico began early in his career. Tamayo was given the opportunity to work in the ethnographic division of the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City where he was exposed to vast array of pre-Columbian sculpture and folk art. Tamayo felt connected with indigenous folk art which he felt to be an expression of his own heritage. Inspired by the indigenous art which reflected his cultural heritage, he began to look for more contemporary sources of inspiration in his work. Tamayo traveled to New York where he saw Picasso’s work, as well other great modernists such as Gauguin, Cezanne, and Matisse. His ensuing work demonstrated a flawless synthesis between modernist style and Mexican indigenismo, connecting his native heritage with modern art of the 20th century.
Tamayo’s lithograph, Perro Aullando a la Luna shows a dog with his neck stretched back and teeth barred as it howls at the moon towards an otherwise empty night sky. A lone tree stands in the background towards the left side of the lithograph balanced by an unusually large full moon on the right. The perspective inaccuracy of this work is emphasized by the scale of the dog in relation to the distant landscape. Two peaks of dark, distant mountains stand between the dog and the moon while a cosmic abyss of tenebrous blues, purples, and blacks consume the seemingly infinite night sky. The agonized expression of the dog contributes to the overall feeling of despair dominating the print. This sentiment is emphasized even more so by the animal’s isolation in an empty, infinite space. The overall feeling provoked by this composition is accentuated by the raw texture which gives the work tangible materiality. The materiality recalls the indigenous style that Tamayo connected with so deeply, where natural materials were used to create vibrant and earthy colors, evoking a sense of physicality in the art. Rooted in nativist Mexican tradition, Tamayo’s style creates a form of interpretation that becomes universally understood across all cultures. Tamayo’s fusion of native Mexican landscape with modern formalism, such as shape and color, introduced a new form of Mexican art into contemporary aesthetic standards.
Perro Aullando a la Luna demonstrates Tamayo’s skill at channeling the influence the indigenous style had on his work while maintaining an entirely formal painterly style. By combining indigenous symbolism with contemporary emphasis on color and shape, Tamayo treated nativist style as something wholly formal. In response to his contemporaries which focused on a narrative style, he concentrated on what he described as “pure” painting which emphasized a renewed focus on the pure elements of form and color. Tamayo believed that the pure plastic quality of art could produce a more direct version of the subject, something accessible to the masses. As a result, Tamayo aimed at capturing a psychological sentiment through form, rather than content. Tamayo’s indigenous Mexican subject matter blends with a modern European style and, in particular, with bold, rich used of color reminiscent of Matisse. This amalgamation of dramatic color, recognizable motifs and material texture creates powerful, direct images that continue to inspire audiences in any culture.
Robin Mahanna
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