Rufino Tamayo

RUFINO TAMAYO (Oaxaca, Mexico, 1899 – Mexico City, 1991).
“Hands on a Blue Background,” 1979.
Color etching and aquatint on Guarro paper, print no. 97/99.
Signed and numbered in charcoal.
Printed and published by Ediciones Polígrafa, Barcelona.
Part of the portfolio “Rufino Tamayo. 15 Etchings 1979.”
Reference: Pereda, 260.
Measurements: 55.7 x 75.8 cm.

Three red hands emerge vividly against a bluish-gray surface, built up with broad masses of ink, brushstrokes, and splatters. The motif evokes the handprints preserved in cave art, one of humanity’s oldest visual expressions. Tamayo reinterprets this ancestral symbol through a powerfully economical use of color, contrasting the fiery red of the hands with the deep blue of the background. The varying orientations and heights of the hands create an ascending rhythm and suggest both a collective action and a silent call or plea.

The work is part of the portfolio “Rufino Tamayo. 15 Etchings 1979,” printed and published by Ediciones Polígrafa in Barcelona. In this series, the artist explored the expressive possibilities of etching and aquatint, integrating chance, material, and color into a language that links modernity with the pre-Hispanic and universal roots of the image.

Rufino Tamayo was a pivotal figure in 20th-century Mexican art. In contrast to the narrative and political nature of muralism, he developed a painting style with a universal scope, marked by pre-Columbian culture, the European avant-garde, and a profound exploration of color. His work is held, among other institutions, at the Tamayo Museum in Mexico City, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.