Mi Padre, Mis Hijos, Mi Esposa, 1944
tempera on newsprint
21 x 16 in.
Louis Stern Fine Arts is pleased to present a solo exhibition of the work of Alfredo Ramos Martinez (1871-1946).
November 1, 1997 - January 3, 1998
This show is a follow-up to the retrospective of the artist launched by Louis Stern in 1991 in his Beverly Hills gallery. The 1991 exhibition was responsible for the renewed scholarly interest in the contribution Ramos Martinez has made to the art of Mexico and California, and was followed by two major retrospectives in important Mexican museums. In 1992 the Museo Nacional de Arte mounted "Alfredo Ramos Martinez: Una Visión Retrospectiva," and in 1996-97 "Un homenaje a Alfredo Ramos Martinez" was presented by the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey. Both exhibitions were accompanied by detailed catalogs with multiple critical texts and full color illustrations. This current show consists of many works never before exhibited, and focuses on the artist’s California period.
The subjects that Ramos Martinez chose to paint were usually humble. However the peasants and workers who populate his paintings often seem to assume the status of icons. This is due in part to his manner of stylization which serves to universalize his subjects, granting depth and religious significance to the seemingly mundane tasks in which they are engaged. It was Ramos Martinez' special gift to express such humanity, such humility, and such grandeur at the same moment.
Perhaps less familiar than the names of other important Mexican artists - Siqueiros, Rivera, Orozco - Ramos Martinez's career spanned nearly five decades. He knew success in his native Mexico, France, and the United States. During a trip to Brittany, Ramos Martinez first painted on newspaper. What began as reluctant necessity (he had run out of drawing paper) became the basis of an independent and unusual style of painting. Some years after returning to Mexico from his years of study in France, Ramos Martinez became director of the National School of Fine Arts in 1910. He immediately initiated his most important contribution as a teacher, the Escuelas de Pintura al Aire Libre, or Schools of Outdoor Painting. Among his many students were David Alfaro Siqueiros and Rufino Tamayo.
After much success as a teacher, Ramos Martinez resigned to devote himself full-time to painting. Eventually he relocated to Los Angeles in order to seek medical attention for his child. While living in California, he was responsible for the creation of numerous important murals for private homes and public spaces. There were also several major exhibitions, including those at the Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, the San Francisco Museum of Art, and at the Fine Arts Foundation of Scripps College before and after the artist died in 1946.