R. C. Gorman Lithograph Three Taos Men

This is a two-color stone lithograph executed by R. C. Gorman in 1966 while in Mexico City, Mexico. How Gorman became interested in lithography and how he began creating them in Mexico is best told by Gorman himself.

"In 1966 I met Raul Anguiano at the Art Wagon Gallery in Scottsdale. He was one of the artists I admired when I was studying at Mexico City College, and I remember I was specially impressed with his famous lithograph of the woman pulling a thorn out of her foot. He encouraged me to try lithography and told me he would introduce me to his lithographer, José Sanchez in Mexico City. I don't remember the exact date, but I do remember I went to Mexico right away and that I did my first work in lithography that same year, 1966.

"At that time José Sanchez had his own lithography shop. In addition to Anguiano, he had done work for Siqueiros, Tamayo, and Orozco. I saw their lithographs on the walls of his studio. Sanchez had his whole family working for him—his kids were grinding stones and his wife was collating things. He had only one arm but he lifted those stones as if they were balls of cotton. It was strange for me, working with lithography for the first time, because Sanchez didn't speak English, just a few key words—so we grunted and made hand signals to each other. With that and my limited Spanish we managed to communicate.

"Gorman recalls that the first lithograph he completed under Sanchez's tutelage was Navajo Mother in Supplication. It was featured on the cover of the Indian Historian in the Winter 1968 issue and in varying colors in three succeeding issues—Spring, Summer, and Fall 1969. The editor wrote ‘This lithograph by R. C. Gorman has won first prizes and is becoming a classic in the art of Indian America.' The Madonna or mother-and-child theme was a familiar one for him in his oil pastel drawings, thus it was a logical choice for a first effort in the new medium. . . He recalls that on this second trip, the first one he did was Three Navajo Women and then Three Taos Men." [Monthan, 1978:40]

It appears that Gorman's third lithograph was Three Taos Men, and it was completed in Mexico City in 1970, the year of his second trip to Mexico City. It was issued in 100 copies, and this one is numbered 100 of 100. It is signed and dated in lower left and numbered in lower right.

Condition: appears to be in good condition but has not been removed from the frame

Provenance: this R. C. Gorman Lithograph Three Taos Men is from the collection of a client from Washington

Reference: R. C. Gorman: The Lithographs by Doris Monthan, Northland Press, Flagstaff. 1978

TAGS:  Zuniga, Taos, New Mexico, Native American Paintings, Diné of the Navajo Nation, R. C. Gorman