The Fruit Vendor

Rufino Tamayo and his wife, Olga, settled in New York in the 1930s, dividing their time between the United States, Mexico, and later Paris. The artist developed his mature style in the 1940s; he was strongly influenced by the work of Pablo Picasso that he saw in New York. Tamayo had been encouraged by his maternal aunt to join the family fruit business while still a teenager, and he turned to that subject in this gouache. The artist also began to dedicate works to his wife—who had suffered a series of miscarriages in 1942–43—around this time, inscribing them with an O, as in the inscription here, O-43. The bounty of fruit balanced by the expressionless, masklike figure may have held private significance for the couple in addition to representing a Mexican subject and style.