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Lot Essay
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist under archive n. 953-O-6.
Tamayo's Discusión acalorada (Heated Discussion) blends two of the most celebrated characteristics of his mature style--inventiveness that transforms anecdote into awesome visions and a magnificent color palette of bold contrasts and subtle execution.
Featured in Time magazine on the occasion of his exhibition in 1954 at Knoedler Gallery, where the painting was first shown, Tamayo acknowledges his personal connection to the work. In fact, the composition is based on the ongoing dispute with David Alfaro Siqueiros over ideological and artistic differences. This war of words was much publicized in the press, heating up with Tamayo's participation at the II Sao Paulo Biennial, where he represented Mexico to great acclaim with 25 paintings of the years 1944 to 1952, receiving one of the top awards.
The painting depicts two colloquists that have been transformed by the artist into complex geometric structures. Their gestures and exalted body movements have been registered on the canvas through forms that are reminiscent of Italian Futurism in its attempt to visually codify motion. In his own words, Tamayo was "very much interested in motion; it is characteristic of our time."
On this canvas we can observe the play of attraction/repulsion that Tamayo projects on to the spectator in numberous paintings. The verbal opponents interact as machines with distorted faces; the scene bathed in fiery reds that convey the emotional tone of their encounter. Moreover, the work embodies Tamayo's idea of painting as a "window through which the spectator lifts himself and his imagination."
Juan Carlos Pereda
Curator, Museo Rufino Tamayo Fundación Olga y Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City
Please note that this work has been requested for the exhibition Tamayo: A Modern Icon Reinterpreted organized by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in collaboration with the Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City. This exhibition will take place from the Fall 2006 to Summer 2007.
Tamayo's Discusión acalorada (Heated Discussion) blends two of the most celebrated characteristics of his mature style--inventiveness that transforms anecdote into awesome visions and a magnificent color palette of bold contrasts and subtle execution.
Featured in Time magazine on the occasion of his exhibition in 1954 at Knoedler Gallery, where the painting was first shown, Tamayo acknowledges his personal connection to the work. In fact, the composition is based on the ongoing dispute with David Alfaro Siqueiros over ideological and artistic differences. This war of words was much publicized in the press, heating up with Tamayo's participation at the II Sao Paulo Biennial, where he represented Mexico to great acclaim with 25 paintings of the years 1944 to 1952, receiving one of the top awards.
The painting depicts two colloquists that have been transformed by the artist into complex geometric structures. Their gestures and exalted body movements have been registered on the canvas through forms that are reminiscent of Italian Futurism in its attempt to visually codify motion. In his own words, Tamayo was "very much interested in motion; it is characteristic of our time."
On this canvas we can observe the play of attraction/repulsion that Tamayo projects on to the spectator in numberous paintings. The verbal opponents interact as machines with distorted faces; the scene bathed in fiery reds that convey the emotional tone of their encounter. Moreover, the work embodies Tamayo's idea of painting as a "window through which the spectator lifts himself and his imagination."
Juan Carlos Pereda
Curator, Museo Rufino Tamayo Fundación Olga y Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City
Please note that this work has been requested for the exhibition Tamayo: A Modern Icon Reinterpreted organized by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in collaboration with the Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City. This exhibition will take place from the Fall 2006 to Summer 2007.