Martín Ramírez (January 30, 1895 – February 17, 1963) was a self-taught artist who spent most of his adult life institutionalized in California mental hospitals, diagnosed as a catatonic schizophrenic. He is considered by some to be one of the 20th century’s best self-taught masters.
He was born on January 30, 1895, in Rincón de Velázquez, Tepatitlán, Jalisco, Mexico. He married María Santa Ana Navarro Velázquez in 1918. Ramirez migrated to the United States from Tepatitlan, Mexico to find employment, leaving behind his pregnant wife and three children. He worked on the railroads in California between 1925 and 1930.
He knew no English and after six years he ended up unemployed and homeless. This led to him being detained by the police and institutionalized in 1931. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, leaning towards catatonia. Ramírez spent over 30 years being institutionalized; first at Stockton State Hospital in Stockton, California, then, beginning in 1948, at DeWitt State Hospital in Auburn, near Sacramento, where he made the drawings and collages for which he is now known.
His works display an idiosyncratic iconography that reflect both Mexican folk traditions and twentieth-century modernization: images of Madonnas, horseback riders, and trains entering and exiting tunnels proliferate in the work, along with undulating fields of concentric lines that describe landscapes, tunnels, theatrical prosceniums, and decorative patterns.
Phyllis Kind presented the first solo show of Martin Ramirez’s work in Chicago in 1973. Since his art was introduced into the art market in 1973, Ramírez’s drawings and collages have become some of the most highly valued examples of outsider art.
In January 2007, the American Folk Art Museum in New York City opened “Martín Ramírez,” the largest retrospective of the artist’s work in the United States in more than 20 years. The exhibition featured about 100 of the 300 drawings and collages that had then been known to exist. His works have sold up to $270,000 in Paris in 2013 and $134,500 in New York in 2011.
Death– He died 17 February 1963 (aged 68). Martin Ramirez spent his 30 years in asylum in Venus and Sun mahadsha. You can see it from his chart.
Birth chart of Martín Ramírez –
