The National Gallery of Canada (NGC) presents, from June 25 to October 10, 2016, Tamayo: A Solitary Mexican Modernist,
an exhibition that celebrates the work of Rufino Tamayo, whose
paintings, prints and sculptures brought international attention to
20th-century Mexican art. This is the first solo-exhibition dedicated to
the artist ever presented in Canada.
Rufino Tamayo, The Great Galaxy (detail), 1978, oil on canvas. Collection Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Internacional Rufino Tamayo / INBA / Mexico. © D.R. Rufino Tamayo/Herederos/ México/2015/Fundación Olga y Rufino Tamayo, A.C / SODRAC (2016)
Tamayo is one of Mexico's most significant modernist
artists, recognized for having achieved his own individual style despite
the domination of his contemporaries, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro
Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco, who were uncompromising in their
allegiance to the social and political ideals that formed the basis of
Mexico’s post-revolutionary art. Younger than they by ten years, Tamayo,
looked to the future and the modern world, as well as finding
inspiration in Mexico’s past traditions.
Commemorating the 25th anniversary of Tamayo's death,
the exhibition presents 18 paintings plus a series of 12 lithographs on
loan from various Mexican institutions and one work from the National
Gallery’s Collection, together covering roughly 60 years of the
painter’s artistic production. Marisol Argüelles, deputy director at
Mexico’s Museum of Modern Art, is the curator of the exhibition, with
the support of Erika Dolphin, Associate Curator to the Chief Curator at
the National Gallery of Canada.
The National Gallery of Canada thanks the following institutions who made the presentation of Tamayo: A Solitary Mexican Modernist possible: the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, the Secretaría de Cultura, AMEXCID,
and the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes of Mexico as well as the
Museo de Arte Moderno, the Museo Nacional de Arte, and the Museo Tamayo.
“Mexican modernist art holds an important place in the
vanguard movements of the twentieth century and will be of great
interest to Canadians,” said the National Gallery of Canada Director and
CEO Marc Mayer. “We are pleased to present this exhibition, a fine
introduction to the outstanding work of Rufino Tamayo, to coincide with
the North American Leaders’ Summit being held at the Gallery on June
29.”
“One of Mexico’s foremost modernist painters, Rufino
Tamayo drew inspiration from Pre-Columbian art forms and our country’s
rich history and popular art. His first solo-exhibition in Canada, to be
held at the National Gallery on the 25th anniversary of his death, is a
celebration of Mexican-Canadian cultural ties,” commented the Mexican
Ambassador to Canada, his Excellency Agustín García-López.
To celebrate the exhibition of Tamayo works at the
National Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada Foundation will host a
special reception at the Gallery on Friday, June 24.
Foundation Chair, Thomas d’Aquino, said, “We are
honoured to receive the works of this Mexican master on the eve of the
State Visit to Canada of the President of Mexico and in advance of the
historic North American Leaders’ Summit which will be proudly hosted at
the National Gallery of Canada.”
About Rufino Tamayo (August 25, 1899 – June 24, 1991)
Born in Oaxaca, Tamayo was orphaned at age twelve.
Under the guardianship of his aunt, he moved to Mexico City and secretly
attended night classes in drawing. The environment of his early years
would be a recurring motif throughout his work. Although his art reveals
many aesthetic pursuits, one in particular stands out above all: a
sense of freedom that allowed him – unlike artists of previous
generations – to incorporate a set of formal codes from folk art and
pre-Columbian Mexican mythology such as the use of colour and monumental
forms. These coexisted in his work with the vocabulary of international
art, confirming early on his universal vision of art.
Today Rufino Tamayo's work appears in many public and
private collections around the world. He created the mural entitled
Fraternity (1968), which was donated by Mexico to the United Nations
Headquarters in New York in 1971. As part of Mexico’s artistic heritage,
the National Institute of Fine Arts has an unrivaled collection of
Tamayo’s work, mainly on deposit at the Museum of Modern Art. The
personal collection belonging to the artist and his wife, which
emphasizes paintings and sculpture from Europe, the United States, Latin
America and Asia from 1945 to 1975, formed the foundation of the Rufino
Tamayo Museum of International Contemporary Art, founded in 1981.
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