Born Jan. 30, 1895, Jalisco, Mexico; died Feb. 17, 1963, Auburn, Calif.
Martín Ramírez, the youngest of eight and a father of four, is considered one of the premier draftsmen of self-taught art. A rancher from the Jalisco region of Mexico, he was one of thousands to leave rural areas after the Mexican Revolution in search of employment in the United States. After emigrating in 1925, Ramírez worked on the railroads and in the mines of Northern California. For Ramírez, art illustrated his connection to a place, to a people, and was incorporated into his communication since his arrival in the U.S. When sending letters to his family, he would include small but intricate drawings in the margins. In 1931, during the Great Depression, Ramírez was arrested and remanded to a series of psychiatric hospitals in which he remained for the latter half of his life until his death in 1963.
Throughout confinement, Ramírez confronted language barriers, psychological isolation and cultural segregation. Because of this, artmaking became his primary form of communication. Assumed to be unable to speak (or, rather, perhaps unable to communicate in English), Ramírez built worlds through drawing. Rooted in memories of his native land and his experience with migration, his drawings created a space for his voice to be brought out visually. An artist of true resilience, he often blended imagery of Mexican and American cultures in his work. He returned to themes of revolution, identity, images of caballeros, landscapes, topographical-like lines, animals, religious icons, Madonnas and transportation. Ramírez’s unmistakable style constructed space and depth in his drawings and collages through recurring, concentric lines that built place, movement and time.
Recognized for his significant skillset, and with the patronage of a local professor, Ramírez exhibited his work around the Bay Area throughout the early 1950s. In 1952, his first solo show debuted at the University of California, Berkeley. Today, he has been honored with numerous solo exhibitions across the United States and Mexico, included in a variety of group shows and catalogues, and even awarded with a set of United States Postal Service forever stamps. This large-scale posthumous recognition of Ramírez led to reuniting his extended family and descendants with his legacy.
—Emily Q. Slavin, Intuit Art Museum curatorial fellow
