"Hombre" is one of the earliest color prints of Mexican Master printmaker Rufino Tamayo's long career in the graphic arts. The artist, then living in Paris, printed this lithograph at Atelier Desjoubert.
Preceeding this image was Tamayo's 1947 "Hombre Contemplando la Luna," an etching and aquatint that appears to be the direct precurser to "Hombre," most likely printed at Stanley William Hayter's Atelier 17 when it was located in New York. Tamayo had all but abandoned printmaking to focus on oil painting in the 1940s, but created "la Luna" with the intent of publication in a monograph by Robert Goldwater, (husband of Atelier 17 printmaker Louise Bourgeois) published in 1947 by Quadrangle Press.
It wasn't until 1950 (the year this work was done) that he revisited printmaking while in Paris, specifically lithography. Working now with the Master Printmakers at Atelier Desjoubert he was able to recreate the vibrant colors that he was known for using in his paintings.