.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
We are grateful to Prof. Juan Carlos Pereda at the Museo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City for his assistance in cataloguing the present painting. This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist under archive number 946-O-6.
*This painting is sold to benefit the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles. Accordingly, this lot may be exempt from sales tax as set forth in the Sales Tax Notice at the back of this catalogue.
Throughout the exceptional career of Rufino Tamayo, the subject of childhood is one through which the artist expressed innocence and tenderness, as if embracing his early memories with nostalgia.
The early works from his first creative stage --mostly gouache on paper and a few canvases-- portray children in introspective, isolated attitudes that convey a quiet sadness.
By 1938 Tamayo was on his way to becoming one of the preeminent colorists in modern art, as can be seen in the breakthrough painting Mujeres de Tehuantepec. However, it is the work Niña Bonita, a painting of exquisite color and Mexican essence, that synthesizes Tamayo's interest in popular culture and Pre-Columbian sculpture with the language of the international avant-garde.
Muchacha con Flores, painted in 1946, opens a new chapter in Tamayo's dealing with the subject, treating children in a new light as there are no traces of shyness or humility. On the contrary, the bourgeois girl depicted reflects vitality and joy, as the daring yellow palette contrasts harmoniously with pinks and grays.
The composition evokes an exterior Impressionist scene bathed in sunlight. The girl's features recall that of a cardboard doll, similar to those which are commonplace in Mexican markets. Her gesture brings to mind a smiling mask, which is highlighted by the sculptural play of shapes, light and shadows that create her hat and dress, as well as the basket of flowers which holds one of the few bouquets that Tamayo painted.
Juan Carlos Pereda
September 2005
*This painting is sold to benefit the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles. Accordingly, this lot may be exempt from sales tax as set forth in the Sales Tax Notice at the back of this catalogue.
Throughout the exceptional career of Rufino Tamayo, the subject of childhood is one through which the artist expressed innocence and tenderness, as if embracing his early memories with nostalgia.
The early works from his first creative stage --mostly gouache on paper and a few canvases-- portray children in introspective, isolated attitudes that convey a quiet sadness.
By 1938 Tamayo was on his way to becoming one of the preeminent colorists in modern art, as can be seen in the breakthrough painting Mujeres de Tehuantepec. However, it is the work Niña Bonita, a painting of exquisite color and Mexican essence, that synthesizes Tamayo's interest in popular culture and Pre-Columbian sculpture with the language of the international avant-garde.
Muchacha con Flores, painted in 1946, opens a new chapter in Tamayo's dealing with the subject, treating children in a new light as there are no traces of shyness or humility. On the contrary, the bourgeois girl depicted reflects vitality and joy, as the daring yellow palette contrasts harmoniously with pinks and grays.
The composition evokes an exterior Impressionist scene bathed in sunlight. The girl's features recall that of a cardboard doll, similar to those which are commonplace in Mexican markets. Her gesture brings to mind a smiling mask, which is highlighted by the sculptural play of shapes, light and shadows that create her hat and dress, as well as the basket of flowers which holds one of the few bouquets that Tamayo painted.
Juan Carlos Pereda
September 2005