RUFINO TAMAYO

THE SOURCES OF HIS ART

1972, 28 minutes. Produced, directed, photographed, and edited by Gary Conklin. Written by Octavio Paz. Spoken by John Huston and Octavio Paz. Music by Carlos Chavez and J.S. Bach.

"Once in a while someone creates the perfect film. Gary Conklin has done so with this film about the extraordinary Mexican painter, Rufino Tamayo." -Madeleine Tourtelot, Film News

"What a rare pleasure it was to see this extraordinarily beautiful film." -Henriette Montgomery, Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Rufino Tamayo; The Sources of His Art is first of all itself a work of art: it is a realized formal entity that transcends each of its elements to achieve a true example of that often misused term, synthesis.

"The title too is accurate. What was desired was not historical or technical presentation of Tamayo's work, but something far more elusive, an insight into the elements of Tamayo's very life and experience in all the variety and profundity that have found permanent transformation through a continuing series of paintings, graphics, and drawings issuing steadily before a delighted world for the last forty-five years. This has been beautifully achieved through the visual interchange of Tamayo's own work and splendid photographic evocations of the Mexican people, country, color, setting, and historical heritage which have in their incredible richness been the source, both conscious and unconscious of Tamayo's life in art." -John Lunsford, Curator Dallas Museum of Art, Film Library Quarterly

"The narration, which includes some of Paz's poetry read by Mr. Huston is a high point of the film. Through the poetry of a kindred Mexican soul, the spiritual sources of Tamayo's work are made most clear." -Douglas C. McGill, New York Times

"This film captures the soul of Mexico."
-Fernando Gamboa, Director, Museo del Arte Moderno, Mexico City
"Perfect...peerless; a masterpiece." -John Huston
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