August 2003 Rafael Tufino‘s retrospective of 150 works that spans the 1940s to the present takes place only a few blocks from the sign shop he used to have in Manhattan’s East Harlem from 1946 to 1947. Later, during the 1970s, Rufino became involved in the Taller Boricua (The Puerto Rican Workshop), which played a role in the founding of New York’s Museo del Barrio, and since then he has been traveling between Puerto Rico and New York. [ Click on image to view works ] Born in Brooklyn to Puerto Rican parents, Rufino settled in Puerto Rico in 1932. After serving in the American army in Panama he studied at the government’s expense at the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico, where he experimented with fresco painting, drawing and printmaking and became influenced by the Mexican muralists such as Siqueiros. He traveled through the country, lived with the Zapoteca Indians and married a Mexican woman with whom he had a daughter, Nitza. In 1950 Tufino, back in Puerto Rico, founded the Centro de Arte Puertoriquena. Later on he also worked as a designer and creator of posters and produced many portfolios including “El Café” for which he received a Guggenheim Fellowship. For today’s viewer, Tufino’s art is notable by his bold use of colors, the spontaneity of his line and its dynamic quality. He has successfully combined the influence of Mexican realism with that of 1920s and 30s Soviet posters and - especially in his linocuts - of European Expressionism. Though aware of these various avant garde movements, Rufino has chosen mostly traditional themes and has anchored his work in a strong sense of Puerto Rican identity. This choice, and his open and generous attitude towards younger artists, have made him a major force in furthering modern art from his country both on the Island and abroad. The title of Rufino’s retrospective is “Painter of the People.” However, to me, his paintings – such as the famed oil portrait of his mother as a tobacco worker,“ Goyita” (1953)- are not his best work. Tufino’s subtlety and the freshness of his observation, his gift for color placement and movement rendering, often do not translate well in his more ambitious oeuvre, where it seems as if he has put on a stiff Sunday suit: a muddier color, stilted gestures. When the artist worries more about ideas and political empowerment than he does about observing people and things - then the works do not feel right. Fortunately a large part of the exhibit shows his contribution to graphic arts, and that is where his joy in being an artist and his delicate mastery come through. Individual prints and linogravures (often in several variations), portfolios, and illustrated books are a large section of the show. The posters, some created to announce or commemorate political events but also for plays and concerts, are influenced both by Soviet posters and by the folklore of the Caribbean . Jazzy rhythm, bold typography and formal arrangement of primary colors convey strong messages about life and politics without renouncing artistic integrity. Most touchingly, Rufino’s modest studio is reconstructed at the end of the visit, while at the beginning pages of his diaries and sketchbooks, envelopes and letters sent to his children whimsically combine words and images.It is in those, and in the small faces painted on stones that populate his studio, that Rufino’s spirit of joyful energy is best felt. -- Carole Naggar El Museo del Barrio 1230 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10029 212. 831.7272 (Wed-Sun,11am-5pm) Until March 2, 2003. www.elmuseo.org Catalogue in Spanish and English