The art of Rufino Tamayo

All of the images below are "thumbnails."
To see the full size pictures, just click on them

Wow, does this guy look like Edward G. Robinson or what?

Rufino Tamayo was born in 1899, in Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico. His parents died in 1911, and he moved in with his aunt in Mexico City. He studied art at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas in 1917. After the Mexican revolution ended in 1920, he was given a hard time by his contemporaries because he wasn't considered "revolutionary enough." He felt stifled, and wound up moving to New York in 1926. He returned to Mexico in 1929 to have a one man show, and this time was met with great praise and media coverage. Tamayo lived in New York with his wife Olga from 1937 until 1949. He became very well known there, and created some of his best pieces. He had another show at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City in 1948, after which he and Olga moved to Paris for ten years. He returned to Mexico in 1959, where he built an art musem in his native Oaxaco, the Museo Rufino Tamayo. Tamayo painted his last painting when he was aged 90 in 1989. He has been displayed all over the world. He died in 1991, of old age.

Tamayo is credited with inventing the Mixograph, which is art printed on paper, but includes texture and depth. He frequently touched up his mixographs, embellishing them by hand.

One interesting ancedote has been widely reported:
In 1970 Tamayo painted Tres Personajes, which was bought by a Houston man as a gift for his wife in 1977, then stolen from their storage locker in 1987 during a move. In 2003, Elizabeth Gibson found the painting in the trash on a New York City curb. Although she knew little about modern art, Gibson felt the painting had power and took it without knowing its origin or market value. She spent four years trying to learn about the work, eventually learning from the PBS website that it had been featured on an episode of Antiques Roadshow. After seeing the Missing Masterpieces segment about Tres Personajes, Gibson and the former owner arranged to sell the painting at a Sotheby's auction. In November, 2007 Gibson received a $15,000 reward plus a portion of the $1,049,000 auction sales price.

---

As usual, we acquired our Tamayos from the Mazatlan Art Gallery back when it existed in the 1990's. I have to say, Mazatlan is much poorer after the loss of this gallery. It used to be the place to go two or three time per year when Ron and Teri held wonderful receptions there. It would probably still be there if Ron and Teri had a couple more customers like Henry and me.

---

Size of canvas	30 x 22	Purchased from	Mazatlan Art Gallery
Signed at	Lower Right	Condition	Excellent
Price	$6500	Medium	Limited Edition Mixograph

---

Hombre en Negro

Size of canvas	30 x 22	Purchased from	Mazatlan Art Gallery
Signed at	Lower Left	Condition	Excellent
Price	$7500	Medium	Limited Edition Mixograph

---

Size of canvas		Purchased from	Mazatlan Art Gallery
Signed at	Lower Right	Condition	Excellent
Price	$3000	Medium	Limited Edition Mixograph

---

If you are interested in any of these paintings, please contact me at nadinelaxen@pobox.com. I pride myself on my reputation for honesty, as attested by my ebay profile and I can also provide the names and numbers of previous customers with whom I have dealt directly. Thanks for looking. Powered by Disqus

Sitemap
Go up to Nadine's Art Collection Go up to Home Page of Nadine Loves Henry
Go back to The art of Vladimir Cora Continue with The art of Miguel Garcia Ceballos