Untitled (Church)

Martín Ramírez, Untitled (Church), ca. 1950, crayon, pencil, and watercolor on various joined papers, 31 ³⁄₄ x 37 ¹⁄₈ in. (80.8 x 94.2 cm) irregular, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.192

Artwork Details

Title: Untitled (Church)
Artist: Martín Ramírez
Date: ca. 1950
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 31 ³⁄₄ x 37 ¹⁄₈ in. (80.8 x 94.2 cm) irregular
Credit Line: Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson
Mediums: crayon
watercolor
pencil
Mediums Description: crayon, pencil, and watercolor on various joined papers
Classifications: Drawing
Highlights: Folk and Self-Taught Art
Subjects: Animal — donkey
Architecture Exterior — religious — church
Object Number: 1986.65.192
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1986.65.192

Artwork Description

Martin Ramírez was among many Mexicans lured to America in the 1920s by the promise of work. He made the journey by train and worked for a time on the railroads and in mines. But in 1931, he was detained for vagrancy and subsequently admitted to a psychiatric hospital where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He spent his remaining thirty-two years institutionalized. Around 1950, he began to draw images that combine memories of his homeland, such as this parish church, with highly abstracted images evoking a profound sense of displacement and loss.