Antonio Ruiz

Antonio Ruiz, like Covarrubias, had fine draftmanship skills and an inclination towards cartoon drawing, but he was truly a great painter of small works, his oils and drawings were always in smaller forms but with a sharp analysis that goes beyond their dimensions. Ruis was known in the art world as "El Corzo" or "El corcito" and as a painter kept at quite a distance from the eloquent and rhetorical position of the mural painters, whom it could be said in passing, respected and admired him for the aesthetic quality of his art. Ruiz came from the academic ranks and formed part of the followers of Adolfo Best Maugard, promoting the latter's drawing method. He lived in the United States for brief periods and for many years was a painting teacher and founder of the School of Painting and Sculpture known as "La Esmeralda". He did not produce a large amount of works, perhaps about fifty oils and sort the same number of drawings, which is why important museums of the United States - such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the New York Museum of Modern Art - jealously guard Corzo's work, as if he were an authentic icon of modern art in Mexico. This work is preceded by a pencil drawing known by the title Dance couple.