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Figura / Mariano Paredes

Gallery Label

Both the front and back of this panel depict female figures invoking tenderness. On the front, a young woman dressed in white and flanked by dark trees kneels and seems to gesture to the unseen above. The reverse side of the panel is a partially carved linoleum block, discovered in preparation for this exhibition. The unrealized composition depicts a scene of an older woman cradling what appears to be the lifeless body of a young child, while a town burns and a figure in the background waves a victory banner. Together, these images conjure intense emotions and relay the artist’s compassion for his subjects.

Las dos caras de este panel retratan figuras femeninas que evocan la ternura. Del lado de frente, una joven vestida de blanco y enmarcada por árboles oscuros se arrodilla mientras parece hacer gestos a lo desconocido que está arriba. El lado de atrás es un bloque de linóleo parcialmente tallado, descubierto durante las preparaciones para esta exhibición. La composición inacabada es la escena de una vieja que mece lo que parece ser el cuerpo sin vida de un niño, mientras un pueblo arde y una figura en el fondo agita una bandera de victoria. Juntas, estas imágenes conjuran emociones intensas, y transmiten la compasión del artista por sus figuras.

From the exhibition: Mexican Modernism: Revolution & Reckoning, August 29, 2019 - August 30, 2020.
Alison Rossi, Director of Learning and Community Engagement, 2019.

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Title(s): 
Figura; Figure
Creator(s): 
Mariano Paredes (Artist)
Culture: 
Mexican
Date: 
1943
Materials/Techniques: 
oil on board
Classification: 
Object Type: 
Credit Line: 
Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Accession No: 
01.2011
Previous Number(s): 
0147.2011; 23187
Department: 
Not On View

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