Tamayo y los Contemporaneos. El discurso de lo clásico y lo universal

Abstract

The notions of the classical and the universal, nowadays an element implicit in any criti- cism concerned with Rufino Tamayo, were, during the 1920s and 1930s, a basic prin- ciple of the esthetic project of Tamayo and the Contemporáneos. This article details the moments, the circumstances and the esthetic affinities which, in a plural and polemical cultural period, were held in common by this artist and the group. This study suggests that the formulation and exposition of the discourse of the classical and the universal provided the argument upon which the painter and the literary group grounded their esthetic project; it is, furthermore, the key to the aspirations and pursuits of that generation and is what explains the cultural hegemony of its creations and their continuing importance.