Traje de Luces (Toro Desconocido IX)

Romas Viesulas

The Tamarind raisonne notes: "6/20" is signed "artist proof." This impression is probably that impression.

One of the first lithographs printed by the newly established Tamarind Workshop, Viesulas worked on the stones for this image with Tamarind co-founder/printer Garo Antreasian between August 12 and August 17, 1960.

Latvian born Viesulas was Tamarind's first artist in residence. Viesulas responded to gestural, painterly approach to lithography that Tamarind was promoting in order to draw more artists to the medium.

"Traje de Luces" translates from Spanish to "Suit of Lights" (a reference to the bullfighter's garb) and was part of a portfolio of 11 lithographs titled Toro Desconocido (The Unknown Bull), which abstractly explored the interplay between the bull, the matador and the light of the arena from the bull's viewpoint. The portfolio was dedicated to poet Federico Garcia Lorca.