Rufino Tamayo (Mexican, 1899-1991). Mixografia print on handmade titled "Torso" depicting the torso and head of a figure, 1978. Pencil signed along the lower right; numbered 35/100 along the lower left.

Provenance: Private Minnesota Collection.

Reference: Pereda 245.

Lot Essay:
Born in 1899 in Oaxaca, Mexico, Rufino Tamayo's first formal art classes occurred at Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas at San Carlos. As a student there he was influenced by Cubism, Impressionism, and Fauvism. He eventually left to study independently while working for Jose Vasconcelos at the Department of Ethnographic Drawings.

While Tamayo was a scion of 20th-century Mexican art, he often eschewed his contemporaries such as Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, Oswaldo Guayasamin, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. He avoided overtly political artworks in favor of what he envisioned as traditional Mexican values. For this reason, he was often met with adversity to his art. In the mid-1920s he decided to move with his wife to New York City and eventually to Paris in 1949 where he felt he could more freely express his artistic ideas. They wouldn't return to Mexico until 1959 where he would spend the remainder of his life.

In the 1970s he would collaborate with engineer Luis Remba at the Taller de Grafica Mexicana to develop a new method of printmaking called Mixografia. This new method allowed for the production of three-dimensional prints with elements of relief, texture, and fine surface details. Thirty-two prints were issued between 1974-1977 on industrial paper. In 1978, the first print was issued on handmade paper. Thirty-five more would follow.
Sight; height: 33 in x width: 25 1/2 in. Framed; height: 39 1/4 in x width: 32 1/4 in. Please contact us for a detailed condition report. Please note that the lack of a condition statement does not imply perfect condition. Email condition@revereauctions.com with any condition questions.