Rufino Tamayo (Mexico)
(b. Oaxaca 1899, d. 1991)

Figura Prehispánica VII, Niño, Cultura Olmeca/
Prehispanic Figure VII, Child, Olmec Culture
From the series Figuras Prehispánicas/Prehispanic Figures (1976)

Series of 12 lithographs
55.6 x 45.5 cm
Donated by the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Internacional Rufino Tamayo
UECLAA#360

Rufino Tamayo remains one of Mexico's most internationally celebrated artists. Of Zapotec Indian descent, Tamayo studied painting in Mexico City and between 1921 and 1923 was Head of the Department of Ethnographic drawing at the National Archaeological Museum. This confirmed Mexico's prehispanic and popular arts as the source of inspiration for his future works. The series of twelve lithographs entitled Figuras Prehispánicas represents a little known aspect of Tamayo's work and is unique because of the application of colour after printing. Figura Prehispánica VII, based on an Olmec ceramic figurine, further exemplifies Tamayo's concern for the purity of line and colour to create something at once uniquely Mexican and universally modern.