Untitled (Horse and Rider)

In 1924, Martin Ramirez left his ranch in Jalisco, Mexico in search of work in the United States. For six years he worked on the rail- roads in California. He sent home money with letters decorated in the margins with drawings, evidence of a burgeoning talent that was later developed in mental institutions. In 1931, homeless and in poor health, he was picked up by the police and placed in a mental hospital (some say wrongly). Although it is believed that he made art during this period, his only remaining work comes from the last fifteen years of his life, after he was transferred to another hospital where a psychologist provided him with art supplies and began saving his work. In addition to using standard materials, Ramirez drew on scraps of paper held together with combinations of saliva and bread or pota- toes (visible here in the patchwork of paper at the top of the drawing). Ramirez focused on subjects such as trains and tunnels, landscapes, and the Madonna. The mounted caballero (Mexican cowboy) situated on a stage is his signature image. It nods back to his early life on the ranch and may also refer to Western movies screened in the hospital. Here, the smiling rider faces the viewer, surrounded by Ramirez’ linear con- struction, while scalloped tunnel-like shapes fill the top of the page. With his mastery of line and rhythm, Ramirez enhanced his simple subjects and created spaces that intrigue and delight.