Illustration from the Apocalypse de Saint Jean

Inscriptions

Text on reverse.

Label

Death, portrayed as a skeletal rider atop a pale horse, defies gravity as he animatedly rides without saddle or reins, his arms thrown upward. His outwardly trained gaze and exaggeratedly contorted body engage with the print’s frantic lines, bold colors, and schematic forms. Tamayo brings to vivid life one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse as described by St. John in the Book of Revelation.

Tamayo rejects his Mexican contemporaries’ emphasis on political messages in favor of a universal, biblical image. The European world’s avant-garde blends with the artist’s interests in Mexican folk art, traditional bright colors, and a muralist’s flattened forms to convey this icon of Christian apocalyptic death.

From the 2024 exhibition, A Space for Dialogue 116, Apocalypse When: reflections on our collective psyche, Molly Rouzie '24, Homma Family Intern

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 116, Apocalypse When: reflections on our collective psyche, Molly Rouzie '24, Homma Family Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 6 - March 2, 2024

Provenance

Ferdinand Roten Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland; sold to present collection, 1965.

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Subjects