Today, we made our first visit to the Museo Tamayo, a contemporary art museum founded by Rufino Tamayo. We had the opportunity to look through the artist’s personal photographs that are housed in his archive at the museum. It was exciting to see pictures of Tamayo’s boat voyage to New York via Havana in the 1930s, and other images that documented his visit to Coney Island, both subjects that appear in his New York paintings. We also learned that he honeymooned with his wife, Olga Tamayo, on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, located on the Pacific Coast of his home state of Oaxaca. Tehuantepec would be an ongoing source of inspiration for the artist.
Next stop: Oaxaca
E. Carmen Ramos, curator of Latino Art at SAAM, was in Mexico to research her exhibition on the acclaimed Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo's residence and production in New York City, Tamayo: The New York Years. Read all of Carmen’s notes from her research trip.
