RUFINO TAMAYO (1891-1991)
Mujer con canasta
signed and dated 'Tamayo 35' (lower right)
gouache and pen and ink on paper
10 3/4 x 8 5/16 in (27.3 x 21.1 cm)
Executed in 1935
Footnotes:
We are grateful to Juan Carlos Pereda for his assistance in cataloguing this work.

Provenance
Rosalind and Irving Richards Collection, New York (acquired from the artist).
Thence by descent to the present owner.


One of Rufino Tamayo's most admirable qualities was his loyalty; by virtue of this, he and his wife, Olga, were able to establish longstanding professional relationships that often extended into each party's personal lives. One of these outstanding relationships was that between the Tamayos and Rosalind Richards, whose portrait, now hanging in Dartmouth's Hood Museum, was painted by Rufino Tamayo in 1948. The correspondence between Rufino, Olga, and Richards lasted years, with Richards even commenting on the prowess of Olga's literary work. The testimonies of appreciation that the Tamayos knew how to cultivate may center around lesser-known works, but their continued presence in the collections of their clients is a testament to their great quality and beauty.

The present work, Mujer con canasta, is a classic example of the subjects in which collectors of the Mexican School of Painting, led by Diego Rivera, were interested in. Tamayo's contributions to this period are distinctive in their scenes which, despite motifs taken from pre-Hispanic and Mexican canons of folklore, embrace the beauty of everyday life. He is especially talented at highlighting the everyday responsibilities of the working class without subjecting them to martyrization. There is a serenity to Tamayo's works that is amplified by the viewer's sense of observation—it is not an overly aestheticized, staged glance into the life of a townsperson. Instead, it is a passing moment, such as watching a woman with a basket walking by, that he captures and imbues with a unique and simple beauty. Instead of using such scenes to capture themes of race, nationality, or politics the way his contemporaries did, Tamayo embraces such genre scenes. Works such as Mujer con canasta provide an account of the passage of a simple and harmonious life - with work but without heroic complications. These works poetically reflect the Mexican heritage and offer a comparison to the life of people from other parts of the world.

Text by Juan Carlos Pereda.

The sheet is hinged to its backing board at two points along the upper edge, verso. Artist pinholes to the upper corners and lower left corner. A minute loss in the lower right quadrant to the bottom left of the rock. Subject to the foregoing, it is in our opinion that the work appears to be in excellent condition.