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Lot Essay
1942 was a pivotal year in the painting of Rufino Tamayo because it earned recognition in the United States for its artistic maturity. Most of the oils executed during this period have become, with the test of time, masterpieces of Mexican art. In fact, Tamayo executed three nude paintings in 1942 of monumental character in canvases of similar size, two of these with dancing scenes.
The gallery of nudes that Tamayo painted throughout his long trajectory is abundant and captures with a unique sensuality, the beauty and complexity of the female body. The nude was fertile ground to imprint the results of his aesthetic meditations and his plastic explorations. The synthesis achieved -never seen in the artist's work up until these years-is a sign of the long dialog that Tamayo established between pre-Columbian sculpture, popular Mexican art, and certain aspects of the European avant-garde represented by artists like: Matisse, Picasso and Chagall.
Bailarinas from 1942 is without a doubt one of the most beautiful works ever painted by Tamayo. It is a canvas where new and ancient ideas synthesize. This painting demonstrates the great aesthetic reach that the artist had achieved until that moment, clearly showing the splendor of Tamayo's mature poetics through his pictorial language. The monolithic rendering of Bailarinas also suggests three-dimensional space. At first glance, these dancers would appear as priestesses that far from being stoic; are concentrated on the ecstasies of their performance. The elegant execution and slow movements appear to be part of a ritual, which would have to do more with the sacred than with the profane. The bodies of the dancers are rounded and heavy; not unlike the sculpture Tamayo executed of Olga, the woman he married in 1934. In neither case, attempting to make a portrait, but instead managing to codify a standard of beauty.
Bailairinas constitutes a great example of Rufino Tamayo as an accomplished colorist. The more restraint his use of color, the more significant its expressiveness. The violent contrast of the different ranges of reds, blues and blacks that saturate this scene succeed in concentrating our attention in the figures performing this eternal dance.
Juan Carlos Pereda
October, 2002
Mexico City
The gallery of nudes that Tamayo painted throughout his long trajectory is abundant and captures with a unique sensuality, the beauty and complexity of the female body. The nude was fertile ground to imprint the results of his aesthetic meditations and his plastic explorations. The synthesis achieved -never seen in the artist's work up until these years-is a sign of the long dialog that Tamayo established between pre-Columbian sculpture, popular Mexican art, and certain aspects of the European avant-garde represented by artists like: Matisse, Picasso and Chagall.
Bailarinas from 1942 is without a doubt one of the most beautiful works ever painted by Tamayo. It is a canvas where new and ancient ideas synthesize. This painting demonstrates the great aesthetic reach that the artist had achieved until that moment, clearly showing the splendor of Tamayo's mature poetics through his pictorial language. The monolithic rendering of Bailarinas also suggests three-dimensional space. At first glance, these dancers would appear as priestesses that far from being stoic; are concentrated on the ecstasies of their performance. The elegant execution and slow movements appear to be part of a ritual, which would have to do more with the sacred than with the profane. The bodies of the dancers are rounded and heavy; not unlike the sculpture Tamayo executed of Olga, the woman he married in 1934. In neither case, attempting to make a portrait, but instead managing to codify a standard of beauty.
Bailairinas constitutes a great example of Rufino Tamayo as an accomplished colorist. The more restraint his use of color, the more significant its expressiveness. The violent contrast of the different ranges of reds, blues and blacks that saturate this scene succeed in concentrating our attention in the figures performing this eternal dance.
Juan Carlos Pereda
October, 2002
Mexico City