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Lot Essay
Several of Tamayo's paintings deal with the subject of ghosts, those unreal beings that people think they see in dreams or in waking life. But Tamayo's ghosts were not created to inspire fear; they appear on the canvas as an illusion of the senses or the creation of one's imagination.
The metaphysical presences that survive in the popular beliefs of Mexico are numerous and varied in nature. Some of them come from the subsistence, in a modified form, of pre-Hispanic mythologies transmitted orally from one generation to the next. One of the most vigorous ones is the belief in the nagual, a protective being that accompanies people along the course of their lives, similar to a guardian angel. Several of Tamayo's paintings from the 1960s and 1970s approach the subject of those spiritual beings which at times are benign, and at other, violent or even evil. Mujer y su fantasma is a painting that revisits that theme as an excuse for deploying through vigorous color contrasts and eloquent primitivizing forms, works not devoid of humor. The lean-bodied woman appears in a trance-like hieratic attitude and has lost all facial features which have been erased and transferred onto the ghost who smiles behind her--not as a specter--but as a friendly presence. An element that renders the image somewhat mysterious is the hand of the woman that has become red as part of the magical charm. Mexican art critic Raquel Tibol interpreted the small suspended and dispersed spots present in many of Tamayo's works as a symbol of happiness and well-being. According to this critic's opinion, we may assume that the ghost is a friendly one. The fantastic scene is immersed in an ambience of warm reds tempered with different shades of pink, achieving an irisdescent atmosphere. The capricious elements that Tamayo has used to complete the scene are also unusual forms whose function is to balance the composition. Mujer y su fantasma is a painting that clearly demonstrates the profound appreciation the artist had for popular culture.
Juan Carlos Pereda, Mexico City, 2006
The metaphysical presences that survive in the popular beliefs of Mexico are numerous and varied in nature. Some of them come from the subsistence, in a modified form, of pre-Hispanic mythologies transmitted orally from one generation to the next. One of the most vigorous ones is the belief in the nagual, a protective being that accompanies people along the course of their lives, similar to a guardian angel. Several of Tamayo's paintings from the 1960s and 1970s approach the subject of those spiritual beings which at times are benign, and at other, violent or even evil. Mujer y su fantasma is a painting that revisits that theme as an excuse for deploying through vigorous color contrasts and eloquent primitivizing forms, works not devoid of humor. The lean-bodied woman appears in a trance-like hieratic attitude and has lost all facial features which have been erased and transferred onto the ghost who smiles behind her--not as a specter--but as a friendly presence. An element that renders the image somewhat mysterious is the hand of the woman that has become red as part of the magical charm. Mexican art critic Raquel Tibol interpreted the small suspended and dispersed spots present in many of Tamayo's works as a symbol of happiness and well-being. According to this critic's opinion, we may assume that the ghost is a friendly one. The fantastic scene is immersed in an ambience of warm reds tempered with different shades of pink, achieving an irisdescent atmosphere. The capricious elements that Tamayo has used to complete the scene are also unusual forms whose function is to balance the composition. Mujer y su fantasma is a painting that clearly demonstrates the profound appreciation the artist had for popular culture.
Juan Carlos Pereda, Mexico City, 2006