Untitled

Primary Roberto Montenegro (Guadalajara, Mexico, 1881–Mexico City, Mexico, 1968)

NationalityMexican, North America

Date1962

MediumOil on canvas panel

DimensionsAdditional Dimension: 11 15/16 × 14 3/8 in. (30.4 × 36.5 cm)

Credit LineBlanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Gift in honor of Helen and Frank Dauster, 2008.119

Keywords

nonrepresentational

Rights Statement

IN COPYRIGHT

Collection AreaLatin American Art

Object number2008.119

On View

On view

Locations

exhibition BMA, Gallery, C4

Label Text

Web Comments

Roberto Montenegro was among the pioneers of the Mexican mural movement. He soon developed a keen interest in collecting and promoting popular cultural traditions, including local handcrafts and folk art. In the 1950s, Montenegro adopted an abstract style that incorporated fragmentary details of mythical Maya figures. As in Carlos Mérida’s mosaic in this gallery, all Indigenous references have become abstracted into a dynamic geometric pattern painted in earth tones. Such a completely abstract style, unusual in his practice, may have been a design adaptation since this painting was created to be the magazine cover of the June 1962 issue of Cuadernos de Bellas Artes [Fine Arts Notebooks], a cultural magazine that featured important Mexican artists.