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Created: March 26, 2003
Latest Update: March 26, 2003
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

Angel Franco/The New York Times
The Puerto Rican artist Rafael Tufiño.

Rafael Tufiño: The Narrative Power of Art

Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, March 2003.
"Fair use" encouraged.

Earlier this week I put up a piece on John Singer Sargent's murals, representin his attempt to capture the century and times in which he lived. We normally associate Sargent with portraits of the elite, but in the latter part of his career, he turned to murals and a legacy he considered more important that portraits.

Today, I'd like you to consider an artist feted by the New York Times, Rafael Tufiño: "The Painter of the People, By Mireya Navarro, New York Times, The Arts Section, At p. E 1. Backup

Instituta de Cultura Puertorriqueña
"Goyita," an oil of his mother by Rafael Tufiño.

El Museo del Barrio, New York
"Cortador de Caña," Cane Cutter (1952), Linocut.11 x 18 inches.
A work by Rafael Tufiño at El Museo del Barrio. Larger, clearer version Backup

Read the article in the NYTimes for more detail and for photos of the paintings. Backup

References

• March 26, 2003: El Museo del Barrio Site of the Retrospective on the work of Rafael Tufino. Link to Current Exhibitions.

• Rafael Tufiño Figueroa: uno de nuestros más destacados artistas en la pintura, el dibujo, el grabado y el cartel Link added March 26, 2003. Backup.

• Essay and examples of Tufino's work. Includes Goyita, Tufino's mother, and a beautiful painting of children:
  

  As we discuss the power of art to perform some of the illocutionary discourse we need to communicate with the Other, this painting of the children stands out as saying a great deal. The children, the brightness of their clothing, the contrasting brillance of their skin, speaks to me of the potential of the resources of the Puerto Rican people. This, fitted into the rich blue of the house, impoverished though it may be, speaks of the interdependence of the peole and their surroundings, and of the strenght and power of the combination. This painting is one of my favorites. Visit it on the site by linking on it.

• Painter and engraver Irizarry Carlos From the Zen Studio Gallery. Backup.
  
  Julia de Burgos, 1983

  "During the early 80's, he begins to explore more fully the concept of art as political movement. During this decade, he creates one of his better known masterpieces, Julia de Burgos, 1983, pictured to the left. Burgos is one of the better known poets of Puerto Rico." From the Zen Studios Site.