Milwaukee Art Museum Presents Drawings of Martin Ramirez

Milwaukee, WI, July 30, 2007-Martín Ramírez, on view at the Milwaukee Art Museum October 6, 2007-January 13, 2008, is the first major retrospective in nearly twenty years dedicated to the complex, multilayered drawings of this Mexican self-taught artistic genius. This holistic exhibition reconsiders the long-held classification of Ramírez as a “schizophrenic artist” and presents his drawings in a major metropolitan museum alongside artists in the art-historical canon, as works of artistic quality and merit.

A legend among self-taught artists, Ramírez-who spent his adult life as an indigent inmate in two mental hospitals in California, diagnosed a catatonic schizophrenic-created drawings that serve as powerful illustrations of one man’s determination to communicate and to rise above his circumstances. His detailed works, produced in the face of profound and fundamental barriers, are rich with expressive power, “like visual diaries of Ramírez’s life,” according to Brooke Davis Anderson, organizing curator and director of the American Folk Art Museum’s Contemporary Center.

Martín Ramírez features approximately eighty of the artist’s drawings on paper, gathered from public museums and private collections around the world, and includes several works never before seen by the public. The exhibition is organized to highlight the development of four of Ramírez’s themes: the horse and rider, trains in tunnels, religious figures, and landscapes-all of which stem from Ramírez’s memories of life prior to being institutionalized. Wall labels by five separate scholars provide diverse perspectives on the multifaceted nature of Ramírez’s artistic production. Gallery guides in both Spanish and English make this and more information available to the public in take-away form.

BACKGROUND
Born and raised in Los Altos de Jalisco, a predominantly Catholic region of west-central Mexico, Martín Ramírez (1895-1963) owned horses and a small parcel of land, and had three daughters and one son with his wife, Maria Santa Ana. As a result of political turmoil in his homeland, Ramírez was forced to leave his family in August of 1925 and venture north to California, where he found work on railroads and in mines so that he could send money back home. Despite his relatively prosperous background, Ramírez was left unemployed and homeless in California by 1931. The Depression and the aftermath of the Cristero Rebellion in Mexico had taken its toll; Ramírez was caught between mounting insecurity in the U.S. and what he perceived as total economic and emotional devastation at home.

At that time, lacking a job and unable to communicate in English, Ramírez was picked up by the police and committed to Stockton State Hospital, eventually diagnosed with catatonic schizophrenia. After seventeen years he was transferred in 1948 to DeWitt State Hospital in Auburn, California, where he created nearly three hundred drawings during the final fifteen years of his confinement.

Ramírez spent the last thirty-two years of his life in mental institutions. Separated from his homeland, his family, and his friends, and unfamiliar with the language of his adopted country, Ramírez hardly talked to anyone during those years, choosing instead to express himself through drawing. Because he did not have access to conventional art supplies, the artist took advantage of what was at hand to make his art. He used food products like mashed potatoes and orange juice; found bits of paper like candy wrappers, flattened paper cups, and hospital forms; and took advantage of hospital supplies like tongue depressors in order to make his outstanding examples of draftsmanship.

In the early 1950s, Ramírez was discovered by Tarmo Pasto, a professor of psychology and art visiting DeWitt from Sacramento State College. Pasto made Ramírez a subject of research on mental illness and creativity, and began to organize exhibitions of his work throughout California and the East Coast. By the end of his life in 1963, Ramírez had become a model and mentor to mainstream “art world” artists like Jim Nutt and Wayne Thiebaud. During his lifetime, four separate solo shows featured his work.

EXHIBITION SPONSORS
Presented by Marianne and Sheldon B. Lubar
Education Sponsor: Chase
Milwaukee presentation supported by the Harley-Davidson Foundation, Rockwell Automation, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dorothy Inbusch Foundation, and Bucyrus-Erie Foundation.

The exhibition was organized by the American Folk Art Museum in New York City, and presented by JPMorgan Chase. Additional support was provided by Altria Group, Inc., National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro, Mex-Am Cultural Foundation, Inc., and Furthermore: a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund.

CATALOGUE
A fully illustrated, hardcover catalogue is available in conjunction with the exhibition Martín Ramírez on view at the Milwaukee Art Museum October 6, 2007-January 13, 2008.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets are $14 adults, $12 seniors, $10 students, and free for children 12 and under. The ticket includes general Museum admission to the Collection galleries. Group tour reservations and discounts are also available; please call 414-224-3842. To become a Museum Member and receive year-round benefits such as free general admission and complimentary feature exhibition tickets, call 414-224-3284.

PRESS OPENING
Wednesday, October 3, 12-2 p.m.
Visit the Museum for an exclusive interview and photo opportunities with Chief Curator Joe Ketner and Brooke Anderson, organizing curator and director of the American Folk Art Museum’s Contemporary Center. The afternoon includes light appetizers and beverages followed by a private tour and opportunities for Q&A.

MEMBERS SEE IT FIRST
Thursday, October 4, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Friday, October 5, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Member Preview Days allow our Members to preview the exhibition before it opens to the public.

EXHIBITION PREVIEW CELEBRATION
Thursday, October 4, 5-8 p.m.
Come celebrate the opening of Martín Ramírez. Join us for an informative talk on the exhibition and enjoy light appetizers and a cash bar. Members get in free. General admission is $20.

MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum includes the new Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, completed in October 2001 and named by Time magazine “Best Design of 2001.” The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. The Museum is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except for Thursdays when the Museum stays open until 8 p.m. (supported by Greater Milwaukee Foundation). For more information, visit http://www.mam.org/.

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Digital images available upon request.