A prolific draftsman and collagist, Martín Ramírez (1895-1963) is considered one of the preeminent self-taught masters of the twentieth century. From ranch owner and agriculturist in Mexico, to miner and railroad worker in the United States, to patient and artist at two psychiatric hospitals in California—only in recent decades have we been able to appreciate the full complexity of Ramírez’s life. A quintessentially twentieth century life that provided the source material for his sophisticated and enchanting compositions. Despite the hurdles Ramírez faced in his life—the economic instability following the Mexican Revolution, his migration to the United States, his self-imposed exile during the Cristero Rebellion, economic precarity during the Great Depression, and forced institutionalization in U.S. psychiatric hospitals—Ramírez was able to insist on creativity. He began to make drawings as early as 1935 during the formative years of arts and crafts therapy in the United States. In these early years, the products of arts therapy were not valued as objects and were often discarded. It is a wonder, then, that his artwork survived and even more so that it continues to circulate in the art world of the twenty-first century.
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Untitled (Trains and Tunnels) A, B, ca. 1958-61Gouache, colored pencil and graphite on pieced paper20 x 89 in. (50.8 x 226.1 cm.)(MR 098AB)Price on request
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DETAILS FROM "Trains and Tunnels A, B"
MR 098AB -
The following conversation between Brooke Davis Anderson, one of many figures responsible for the stewardship of Ramírez’s artistic legacy, and Juan Omar Rodriguez (Latinx curator of contemporary art and Curatorial Fellow at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts) demonstrates the importance of care in facilitating the ongoing recognition of this industrious, resourceful, and imaginative artist.
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The interview transcript below has been edited and condensed for clarity.