Print authentication: Rufino Tamayo
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authenticity (COA) for all prints
by Rufino Tamayo.
Rufino Tamayo was a Mexican artist, known for his innovative style of printmaking. Tamayo is said to have practiced every printmaking technique, including: woodcut, lithography and etching. Tamayo, along with Luis Remba, developed a new style of printing, known as mixografia. This innovative process allowed Tamayo to create textural, relief prints, instead of flat images, the prints were given a third-dimension. Remba and Tamayo ultimately created 80 editions together over the course of 17 years.
Hombre en Rosa. 1984. Intaglio print
Figura Rosa. 1980. Intaglio print
Tamayo was born in Oaxaca, Mexico but moved to Mexico City at a young age. Tamayo briefly studied art at the Academy of Art, San Carlos before joining the Department of Ethnographic Drawings. Though Tamayo was a member of LEAR, an organization of artists and writers who supported revolution, Tamayo ultimately disagreed with the motives of the group. Tamayo avoided overtly political themes in his paintings and prints. He was instead more interested in examining his indigenous roots, and the rich culture of Mexico.
Cabeza ocre. 1984. Intaglio print
Figura de hombre. 1980. lithograph
Figura de mujer. 1980. lithograph
Tamayo spent over ten years of his career living in New York, where he exhibited at numerous galleries and taught at the Dalton School. Tamayo returned to his birthplace, Oaxaca, in 1959 to build the Rufino Tamayo Museum. In 1981, the Tamayo Contemporary Museum opened in Mexico City. Rufino Tamayo is one of Mexico’s most prized artists, along with Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueeiros. Tamayo was an innovator in the field of printmaking and his many mixographs, lithographs, woodcuts and etchings have continued to rise in value.