Observador de Pájaros

Born in Oaxaca with Zapotec heritage, Rufino Tamayo was inspired by Pre-Columbian art and Mexico’s indigenous traditions. He lived intermittently in New York and Paris after 1926, where he was exposed to international modernist trends like Cubism and Surrealism. A contemporary of the Mexican School, Tamayo was likewise active as a muralist but lacked the political motivations of los tres grandes. Instead he preferred universal themes, such as the place of man within the cosmos. In Birdwatcher, he evokes this concept through the figure’s upward gaze and open-armed gesture.