1963.124.FA Rufino Tamayo, Woman in Yellow and White, date unknown

"I don't try to use many colors because I consider it unnecessary. With two or three colors at the most you can express more than plenty."—Rufino Tamayo

 

This color lithograph is one of a series of similar studies by Mexican painter and printmaker Rufino Tamayo that explore the complex relationship between color and the abstracted human figure. In this portrait of a woman, the artist returns to his trope of a woman standing within an open doorway. Here, however, the mystery of her identity is less ominous. The broad-shouldered, faceless female wears a white dress, cinched at her waist. Her arms dangle in front of and behind her, suggesting movement through the doorway; however, Tamayo impairs her movement by painting broad black strokes across her chest, down her dress, and onto the adjacent wall, affixing her to the domestic interior and confining her to a liminal space.

Erin Piñon, Tower Gallery: Latin American Art, Label text, 2017.

Tamayo_Rufino: ULAN: 500024331

Mexico (nation): TGN: 7005560

Oaxaca (state/Mexico): TGN: 7005591

Mexico City (Mexico): TGN: 7007227

color lithographs: AAT: 300041383

lithographs (planographic prints): AAT: 300041379

lithography: AAT: 300053271

chromolithographs: AAT: 300041384

chromolithography: AAT: 300053272

Mixografia (R) (embossed prints): AAT: 300265654

embossing (technique): AAT: 300053826

prints (visual works): AAT: 300041273

works on paper: AAT: 300189621

figures (representations): AAT: 300189808

human figures: AAT: 300404114

abstract: AAT: 300108127

abstraction: AAT: 300056508

female: AAT: 300189557

women (female humans): AAT: 300025943

standing: AAT: 300239500

doors: AAT: 300002803

doorways (openings): AAT: 300002767

walls: AAT: 300002469

interior spaces: AAT: 300078790

dresses (garments): AAT: 300046159

shoulders (animal or human components): DMA

arms (animal or human components): AAT: 300310201

color (perceived attribute): AAT: 300056130

blue (color): AAT: 300129361

yellow (color): AAT: 300127794

white (color): AAT: 300129784

black (color): AAT: 300130920

bodies (human and animal components): AAT: 300404640

geometric shape: AAT: 300263819

geometric motifs: AAT: 300009764

geometric abstraction: AAT: 300056509

lines (geometric concept): AAT: 300056279

circular (shape): AAT: 300263827

triangular (polygonal): AAT: 300263833

form (composition concepts): AAT: 300056272

curves (geometric figures): AAT: 300378887

linear forms: AAT: 300234452

outlines (linear form): AAT: 300124267

background: AAT: 300056369

painters (artists): AAT: 300025136

printmaking: AAT: 300131119

series (groups): AAT: 300027349

identity: AAT: 300257052

portrait: AAT: 300015637

rhythm (formal concept): AAT: 300056305

brush strokes: AAT: 300185434

Until 1961: Marvin Small, Fort Lee, New Jersey [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]

1961-1963: Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts, gift of the above [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]

From 1963: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Foundation for the Arts Collection, gift of Marvin Small, transferred from the above, May 30, 1963 [1], [6], [7], [8]

[1] The main source for this provenance was existing information in TMS (in Dallas Museum of Art Digital Collections Records Object Files). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.  

[2] The main source for this provenance is letter from Jacob D. Weintraub, New Art Center Gallery, New York, to Douglas MacAgy, Director of the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts (dated November 14, 1961, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[3] The main source for this provenance is letter from Douglas MacAgy, Director of the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts, to Marvin Small (dated November 16, 1961, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[4] The main source for this provenance is letter from Jacob D. Weintraub, New Art Center Gallery, New York, to Douglas MacAgy, Director of the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts (dated November 28, 1961, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[5] The main source for this provenance is Deed of Gift (dated November 16, 1961), copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[6] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

[7] The Foundation for the Arts is a non-profit corporation created as a title-holding entity to serve the people of Dallas but to operate independently of the City. The Dallas Museum of Art (at its own cost) is responsible for the care, storage, insurance, conservation and maintenance of the collection, and agrees to maintain the highest museum standards in the management and handling of the Foundation’s collection. The title to all works of art purchased or otherwise acquired by the Foundation for the Arts is retained by the Foundation.

[8] Pursuant to the April 19, 1963 Agreement of Merger between the Dallas Association and the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts (DMCA), the collection of the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts was transferred to the Foundation for the Arts.