Lot 353
Tamayo, Rufino. Head in Grey (Cabeza en Gris). Rufino Tamayo (1899 - 1991) a native of Oaxaca in Southern Mexico, whose father was a shoemaker, and his mother a seamstress. Some accounts state that he was descended from Zapotec Indians, but he was actually 'mestizo' - of mixed indigenous/European ancestry. (Santa Barbara Museum of Art). He began painting at age 11 and after both parents passing was orphaned where he went to live in Mexico City with his aunt. In 1917, he entered the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts, but left soon after to pursue independent study. Four years later, Tamayo was appointed the head designer of the department of ethnographic drawings at the National Museum of Archaeology in Mexico City an aesthetic inspiration that would play a pivotal role in his life. His reputation as an artist exploded from the 1940s well into the 1970s culminating with The Rufino Tamayo Museum of International Contemporary Art, which opened in Mexico in 1981, and displays many of the artist's works, as well as paintings, sculpture and drawings from his private collection. At the time, it was the first major museum not run by the Government.
Typical of how Tamayo integrated the forms and tones of pre-Columbian ceramics into his still lives and portraits of Mexican men and women is apparent in this work entitled "Head in Grey" (Cabeza en Gris.) Color intaglio etching with slight embossing from raised or multiple plates all in dark black inks of the figure, the face surrounded by the grey headdress against a compelling background of olive and grey. Etching, utterly and completely winning, strikingly contemporary with a sense of whimsy given the startled appearance of the figure. In excellent condition, no disfiguring conditions present, no foxing, blemishes or mold present. Archival mounting with linen matte visible, artwork "floating" above it. Numbered at lower left XII/XV this print appears on the cover of Rufino Tamayo: 15 Aquafuertes, Etchings published in 1979. Piece was appraised in 1992 in a four page document by the esteemed William & Catherine Hemmerdinger Gallery in Palm Desert which will convey with the piece. Appraisal in 1992 was $24,500. Measures 29" x 21¼" handsomely matted and framed in lightly gilt wood to 39" x 32".
Estimated Value $9,000-UP.
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