Accompanying a major museum exhibition showcasing the drawings of the acclaimed self-taught artist Martin Ramirez, this volume offers a comprehensive selection of his complex and compelling art. Martin Ramirez created nearly 450 drawings of remarkable visual clarity and expressive power while confined in a California mental institution for more than twenty-five years. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, he achieved posthumous fame with recent exhibitions of his works. Eighty important drawings, culled from public and private collections, comprehensively survey his achievement and demonstrate that he was one of the great draftsmen of the twentieth century. The richness of Ramirez's drawings and the depth of historical and cultural influences in his work point to his deep engagement with society. The artist s unique process employing found items, homemade pigments, matchsticks, and large swaths of paper is explored, as are his personal experiences of poverty, exile, and confinement. The volume includes recent research about Ramirez's life, family, and art, and features examples from a cache of previously unknown drawings by Ramirez, whose discovery caused a great sensation. This dazzling book displays Ramirez s skill and inventiveness and shows why his work is worthy of its own place in the annals of modern art. AUTHORS: Lynne Cooke is Curator of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain, and Curator at Large for the Dia Art Foundation, New York, USA. Brooke Davis Anderson, Director and Curator, The Contemporary Center, American Folk Art Museum in New York City, USA, has contributed to numerous books, including Henry Darger (Prestel). James Lawrence is a critic and historian specializing in post war and contemporary art. Luis Perez-Oramas is a curator at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA. Victor Espinosa is a sociologist, who specializes in art and Mexican migration to the United States. ILLUSTRATIONS 130 photos *
