1963.119.FA Rufino Tamayo, Nude in Gray, 1959

Printed during a stint in Paris, this chromolithograph reflects Rufino Tamayo’s commitment to abstraction and effort to distance himself—both physically and ideologically—from his Mexican contemporaries. Tamayo’s steely nude stands erect and squarely in the center of a nondescript yet colorful domestic interior. Arms dangling from a perfectly symmetrical body, the woman depicted in this lithograph is only slightly feminine in her stance, aimed at modesty. The artist provides hints to his subject’s sex, including a pair of breasts; however, he complicates his construction by depicting her hairless. Her abstracted features float on a geometric plane, unfixed to her face and body and further removing her from traditional figural depiction.

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

female: AAT: 300189557

women (female humans): AAT: 300025943

standing: AAT: 300239500

abstract: AAT: 300108127

abstraction: AAT: 300056508

bodies (human and animal components): AAT: 300404640

nude: AAT: 300189568

symmetry: AAT: 300056249

arms (animal or human components): AAT: 300310201

bald (hairstyle): DMA 

plane figures: AAT: 300159060

planes (mathematics): AAT: 300055640

geometric shape: AAT: 300263819

geometric motifs: AAT: 300009764

geometric abstraction: AAT: 300056509

lines (geometric concept): AAT: 300056279

circles (plane figures): AAT: 300055627

form (composition concepts): AAT: 300056272

curves (geometric figures): AAT: 300378887

linear forms: AAT: 300234452

interior spaces: AAT: 300078790

color (perceived attribute): AAT: 300056130

gray (color): AAT: 300130811

background: AAT: 300056369

outlines (linear form): AAT: 300124267

Paris (France): TGN: 7008038

steel (alloy): AAT: 300133751

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.