Noticias
The great pillars of the exhibition are the avant-garde, the color and the figure
The most representative of Rufino Tamayo’s work comes to Canada for the first time
June 23, 2016Nearly 70 years of Mexican painter Rufino Tamayo’s production will be showed in the exhibition Tamayo: a Mexican solitary modernist, to be opened on Friday June 24th at the National Gallery in Ottawa, Canada.
As part of the activities for his 25th death anniversary, it is the Oaxacan artist’s first solo exhibition in this country, which presents his career in three great themes with representative pieces from 1930 until the eighties.
The exhibition does not follow his biography, but represents key moments of his career and the esthetic searches that can be easily identified, which gives an opportunity to review his biography, curator Marisol Argüelles explained.
The three great pillars of the exhibition are the avant-garde, the color and the figure and within them there are genres of painting, including portrait, still life and the suggested landscape that allow you to review the long artist’s career who witnessed nearly a century of history.
According to the curator, the exhibition is made up of 18 pieces, five to seven of them come from the Tamayo Museum, the rest come from the Museum of Modern Art (MAM, for its acronym in Spanish) and another one comes from the National Museum of Art (Munal, for its contraction in Spanish), plus a series of 12 lithographs from the Olga and Rufino Tamayo Foundation.
One of the novelties is that the National Gallery itself has in its collection a piece of small format dating back to the thirties of the last century; that is to say from the early period of Tamayo: a watercolor made on Japan paper called Two tehuanas, which will also be exhibited.
“I would not dare to say there is one piece more important than another, but, for example, in the part dedicated to the color we have two very representative pieces from the Tamayo Museum. One is the famous watermelons, where it is interesting how color becomes the subject of the work (...) Then there is La gran galaxia (The great galaxy), which belongs to a time when Tamayo began painting the cosmos, probably as a result of the space age and because after the World War I he was interested in painting themes related to man and the infinite. "
Another work that could be of interest to visitors is the one lent to MUNAL called Los fumadores (Smokers), a kind of still life that with a surreal atmosphere has a double portrait where Rufino Tamayo and Maria Izquierdo appear at the time they were life partners.
Marisol Argüelles pointed out that there is a section dedicated to the human figure and the many treatments that Tamayo gave through works such as Dos mujeres (Two women), in which there is a strong influence of pre-Columbian art; Danzante y Encuentro No. 2, where the figures are blurred to immerse themselves in the color; it is a moment of passage between figurative and abstract.
The exhibition closes with two pieces, the Tamayo’s set of lithographs called Ídolos antiguos de México (Ancient Idols of Mexico) and Hombre a la fuerza (Man by force) from the eighties, in which the interests of Tamayo come together at that time: large formats, the use of color in an expressive way and, moreover, the representation of the human figure, away from naturalism.
"Tamayo was a turning point in history, because he represents the other side of the balance of these extraordinary artists who set a very strict and inflexible nationalist program, while Tamayo tried to leave that kind of prison to be a more universal artist", the art historian said.
She noted that the title of the exhibition alludes to that moment when Tamayo appeared to be the only voice of the nationalist program, considering that Mexican painting is not only the one which represents the colors or the mythology of our country, but which is made by Mexican artists, who have every right to paint freely.
"The intention is to make him know in other places and this event coincides with the state visit of President Enrique Peña Nieto, in the framework of the North American Leaders Summit. It is a joint effort of many cultural institutions. It is a cause for celebration to have such an important artist in Mexico’s history of art and introduce him to Canadians. "
Tamayo: A Mexican Solitary Modernist will be at the National Gallery in Ottawa, Canada, until October 10th. There is not another space considered for this exhibition, so the works will return to the museums, except one that will travel to Philadelphia, United States.
Mexico,Distrito Federal
