Artwork Page for Tio Vivo #1

Details / Information for Tio Vivo #1

Tio Vivo #1

1949

Howard Cook

(American, 1901–1980)
Culture
America
Medium
lithograph
Measurements
Sheet: 44.5 x 35.6 cm (17 1/2 x 14 in.)
Credit Line
Gift from Gwen Fate and Kevin Henegar 2023.30
Copyright
Copyright
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

Howard Cook worked extensively painting murals for Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s WPA (Works Progress Administration) during the Depression.

Description

Howard Cook was an American realist is known for his scenes of New York before he moved to the American Southwest. There, he made this image of the famous hand-cranked Taos, New Mexico, carousel, the Tio Vivo (Lively Uncle). Cook’s combination of patterns—striped canvas, clown’s costumes, and zebras—adds a whirring intensity to the ride.
A vertically oriented monochromatic lithograph depicts a dense, whirling scene of a carousel beneath a canopy of radiating geometric bands. Numerous figures with wide-set eyes ride stylized horses, circling a central pole in an energetic vortex. Strong light and dark contrasts, created through fine hatched lines, define the overlapping bodies. In the foreground, a figure on our right sits atop a striped horse, anchoring the textured, high-contrast composition.

Tio Vivo #1

1949

Howard Cook

(American, 1901–1980)
America

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