Untitled (Arches) MR084

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Martin Ramirez
Untitled (Arches) MR084
1960-63

About the Item

Amidst political and religious upheaval, MartÃn RamÃrez left his native Jalisco, Mexico for America in 1925 seeking work to support his family and struggling ranch. He labored as an impoverished immigrant until he was picked up by police in California in 1931, reportedly in a disoriented state. By 1932, RamÃrez was declared schizophrenic (with varying diagnoses of catatonic, manic-depressive and paranoid amending that) and committed first at Stockton State Hospital and eventually at DeWitt State Hospital in Auburn. During this internment and until his death in 1963, RamÃrez's fantastic drawings, formerly only found in the margins of his letters home, ranged up in scale. Some of MartÃn RamÃrez's large paneled pieces stretched to nineteen feet. These drawings were all completed from within the walls of hospitals, on the floor underneath a table, and often on paper the artist carefully pieced together himself. With rhythmic repetition of line and gentle shading, RamÃrez created imaginary landscapes populated by the real images of his past: the caballeros, Madonnas and animals of his Mexican heritage and the trains that carried him to permanent exile in America. His technical skill, stylistic evolution, and thematic coherence led Roberta Smith, senior art critic of the New York Times, to call RamÃrez "â€¦simply one of the greatest artists of the 20th century." "RamÃrez had an indelible style built on a supreme sense of economy and shot through with a mix of sly humour and sunny optimism that coats deeper, darker feelings. He had his own way with materials and colour â€“ buoyed by an unerring sensitivity to the power of blank paper â€“ and a cast of unforgettable characters, including mounted caballeros, levitating madonnas, and deer and dogs on high alert. But most of all RamÃrez had his own brand of pictorial space, which he regulated with rhythmic systems of parallel lines, curved and straight. He played spatial illusion as if it were an accordion, expanding and contracting it in a mesmerizing alternation of stasis and movement." - Roberta Smith, The New York Times, Art Review/ MartÃn RamÃrez, â€œOutsider Inâ€�, Jan. 26, 2007 MartÃn RamÃrez has been the subject of numerous museum shows, including the retrospective MartÃn RamÃrez: Pintor Mexicano, at the Centro Cultural/Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, in 1989, and two major exhibitions at the American Folk Art Museum, NYC: a traveling retrospective titled MartÃn RamÃrez in 2007, and MartÃn RamÃrez: The Last Works in 2009. In 2010, the 20th century master was the subject of a comprehensive exhibition curated by Lynne Cooke at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte ReÃna SofÃa, in Madrid, titled MartÃn RamÃrez: Reframing Confinement. Ricco/Maresca Gallery is the exclusive representative of the Estate of MartÃn RamÃrez.

Creator:
Martin Ramirez (1895-1963, Mexican)
Creation Year:
1960-63
Dimensions:
Height: 15.5 in (39.37 cm)Width: 34.5 in (87.63 cm)
Movement & Style:
Outsider Art
Condition:
Framed.
Gallery Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: G11092153127