Rufino Tamayo, Pretty Girl, 1937, Private Collection.
The label copy says Pretty Girl was inspired by a photograph of Rufino Tamayo's wife, Olga, with her sister when they were children. It made a big hit with a critic when it hung in a "blockbuster exhibition" in New York at a time when Tamayo's Mexican colleagues weren't drawing pretty pictures but incorporating issues of the day in their art.
Tamayo drew more than one rendering of Luna Park at Coney Island which the label copy identifies as "a favorite haunt of many New York artists who wanted to capture modern urban life."
The label copy for Factory Workers' Movement says that although Tamayo rejected the injection of politics in art, European fascism and the growth of the violent anti-labor movement in Mexico made him sensitive to workers' needs and their goals. Here he drew them rallying outside a factory, urged on by a man in the distance who calls for action.
Arts thrive in Mexico which produces not only movie winners but distinctive artists, too, like abstractionist Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991) whose time spent in New York was the subject of an exhibition which ended Sunday at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
From the late 1920s until 1949, Tamayo lived off and on in New York, a period some consider to represent his greatest artistry output.
After Tamayo moved to the Big Apple in 1926, it didn't take him long to establish a following since several galleries hosted shows which heightened his reputation and led to a warm welcome when he returned to Mexico three years later, a contrast to his sendoff, caused by politics and his being called a "traitor."
He did not support the violent changes erupting in Mexico, unlike contemporaries such as Diego Rivera. Tamayo believed a more traditional approach to change was the right direction and that politics and art did not mix.
Hoping to find more tolerance for his conservative views, he moved to New York where he was influenced by Pablo Picasso and was introduced to fauvism, cubism, and impressionism. These styles were apparent in the Smithsonian show which, it said, was "the first exhibition to explore the influences between this major Mexican modernist and the American art world." The show of 41 pieces traced his development from urban scenes to dreamy landscapes.
After New York, Tamayo and his wife moved to Paris and lived there for ten years before returning to Mexico in 1959 where they opened a museum in Oaxaca.
Tamayo was proud of his Mexican heritage and displayed it, sensitive to perceived contempt on art not made by those of European descent.
He finished his last painting, Moon and Sun, when he was 90, the year before he died in Mexico City.
What: Tamayo: The New York Years
When: Closes Sunday, March 18, 2018. The museum is open from 11:30 a.m.- 7 p.m. every day.
Where: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 8th and F streets, N. W., Washington, D.C. 20004
How much: Admission is free
For more information: 202-633-1000 or visit the website.
Metro station: Gallery Place-Chinatown or walk 10 minutes from Metro Center
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