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Rufino Tamayo

Head of a Girl (Cabeza de Niña), 1942

Description

Maker

  • Rufino Tamayo, 1899-1991, Mexican (Zapotec)

Title

Head of a Girl (Cabeza de Niña)

Year

1942

Medium

Watercolor and gouache on paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • watercolor

Dimensions

42.9 x 35.2 cm (16 7/8 x 13 7/8 inches)

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Drawings and Watercolors

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

43.175

About

Painted in dark, muted colors, this striking portrait conveys a somber tone reinforced by the subject’s facial expression. Her elongated and stylized face bears an empty gaze, as if she were lost in thought. The subject seems older than the title suggests, but that could reflect the past use of the term girl to refer to young women. Perhaps Rufino Tamayo was conveying the weight of existence during World War II. In 1942, Mexico entered the war. Tamayo, living in New York at the time, was also acutely aware of the war’s toll on immigrant artists there.

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Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Artistic Expressions of the Human Spirit

November 21, 1997 - April 26, 1998

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Head of a Girl (Cabeza de Niña) with the accession number of 43.175. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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