Rufino Tamayo

Rufino Tamayo (August 26, 1899 – June 24, 1991) was a popular modern Mexican painter. He was a Zapotec Indian and was born in Oaxaca, Oaxaca.

In his paintings, Tamayo expressed what he believed was the traditional Mexico and did not follow the more politically based paintings that many of his contemporaries such as José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros did. Tamayo and another artist, Lea Remba, were the first artists to create a new type of printed artwork called “Mixografia.” This consisted of artwork printed on paper but with depth and texture. One of their most famous Mixografias is entitled “Personajes Atacados por Perros (Two Characters Attacked by Dogs).” Some of Tamayo’s art has been shown in museums such as The Philips Collection in Washington and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.