Martin Ramirez

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Martín Ramírez (1895–1963) was a Mexican American self-taught artist who spent most of his adult life institutionalized in California mental hospitals, diagnosed as a catatonic schizophrenic. Originally a migrant worker from Mexico, he started drawing and creating collages during his confinement. Ramírez developed an elaborate and highly idiosyncratic iconography, and since his death his works have become some of the most highly valued examples of outsider art.

On January 23, 2007, the American Folk Art Museum, New York City, opened "Martín Ramírez," the first major retrospective of the self-taught master in the United States in more than 20 years, featuring 97 works on paper. The show is accompanied by a 192-page full-color hardcover catalog, Martín Ramírez.

The exhibition organized by the American Folk Art Museum is the first to give equal consideration to the biographical, historical, and cultural influences in Ramírez's oeuvre, its artistic quality and merit, and its standing in the context of the work of twentieth-century self-taught artists. The catalog includes a thoroughly researched biographical essay on Martín Ramírez, written by sociologists Víctor M. Espinosa and Kristin E. Espinosa. An interdisciplinary exploration of Ramírez's life and complex, multilayered artwork, the exhibition and book present a holistic examination of his drawings and collages beyond the boundaries of his diagnosed schizophrenia.

[edit] References

Anderson, Brooke Davis. Martín Ramírez. With an introduction by Robert Storr and essays by Víctor M. Espinosa and Kristin E. Espinosa, Daniel Baumann, and Victor Zamudio-Taylor. Seattle: Marquand Books in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2007.
Hollander, Stacy C., and Brooke Davis Anderson. American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum. New York: American Folk Art Museum in association with Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001.