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Collections

Rufino Tamayo
Figure with Arms Akimbo (Figura en jarras)1980

Not on view
Vertical print with mottled sandy-brown background featuring a large silver-gray phi-like symbol — a circle bisected by a vertical bar — centered on the composition, with a dark brown horizontal band near the bottom
Print with mottled ochre and brown ground, featuring a large pale gray vertical column topped by a circle forming a cross-like abstract shape, centered against a textured background with a dark horizontal band at the base.
Artist or Maker
Rufino Tamayo
Title
Figure with Arms Akimbo (Figura en jarras)
Date Made
1980
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
29 5/8 × 22 in. (75.25 × 55.88 cm)
Credit Line
The Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art
Accession Number
AC1997.LWN.3388
Classification
Prints
Collecting Area
Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes

In Figure with Arms Akimbo, Rufino Tamayo distills the human form into its most basic shapes. From the head down to the legs, a single thin rectangle represents the full length of the body. Two small light circles at the top of the rectangle create eyes, the only nod to facial features or detail. An open circle forms the curve of the arms, with slightly rounded ends to differentiate the hands placed on the figure’s hips. Among the most reduced figures that emerge in Tamayo’s work, this came to function as a sign representing a man, and subsequently appeared in prints, paintings, and even sculpture, a less common aspect of Tamayo’s production.


For more information see the catalogue entry by Rachel Kaplan in Rufino Tamayo: The Essential Figure, 2019, pp. 58–59.


Figure with Arms Akimbo (Figura en jarras) was printed and published at Ediciones Polígrafa in Barcelona.

Provenance
Bernard and Edith Lewin, Rancho Mirage, California; LACMA, 1997.
Selected Bibliography
  • Kaplan, Rachel. Rufino Tamayo: The Essential Figure. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019.
Selected Exhibition History
  • Rufino Tamayo: Innovation and Experimentation. December 21, 2019 - July 11, 2020
  • Rufino Tamayo: Innovation and Experimentation. December 21, 2019 - July 11, 2020
  • Rufino Tamayo: Innovation and Experimentation. May 3, 2024 - May 27, 2024
  • Rufino Tamayo: Innovation and Experimentation. May 3, 2024 - May 27, 2024
  • Rufino Tamayo: Innovation and Experimentation. November 15, 2024–April 24, 2025
  • Rufino Tamayo: Innovation and Experimentation. November 15, 2024–April 24, 2025