Martin Ramirez: Reframing Confinement With texts by: Lynne Cooke Brooke Davis Anderson Victor M. Espinosa James Lawrence REINA SOFIA |The Worlds of Martin Ramirez Victor M. Espinosa Tus tll my wife that we will see each other in the Valley of Jehoshaphat... ‘Martin Ramirez, ‘Martin Ramfrez left no source of written information about either his life or his work. ‘The few letters that he sent back to his family from Californta were destroyed by his descendents.1 Despite the fact that he was questioned several times with the help of ‘an interpreter during some of his psychological evaluations. the subject of his artis- tic production was never touched upon in these interviews$ Even ifit is highly like- ly that, over the course of time, Ramirez may have understood more English than ‘was thought,‘ it seems that he opted for silence.5 We know that he managed to exchange a few words in Spanish with artists who visited him at the hospital, as well as with the Catholic priest who was in charge of the hospital chapel.6 Nevertheless, the only intimate conversation we know he had during his thirty-two years as a recluse was with his nephew, José Gomez, Ramirez, who visited him in hospital in 1952. On that occasion, Ramirez mentioned some artists that were interested in his, drawings and gave some of his own works as a present to his nephew, but the con- versation was more concemed with family affairs than with art? Taken from that conversation, the apocalyptic quotation that opens this text contains the only words pronounced by Ramirez that his descendents are able to recall. t constitutes the response that he gave to his nephew after the latter asked for a message to take back to his aunt Santa Ana, the wife of Ramirez. Seen within a biographical context, these ‘words are an important contribution to our vision of the world of this Mexican artist. Some of the letters that Rararea sent from the psychiatric hospital contained a few words in Latin, something which wes interpreted by his family as another symptom of his madiness. The letters ‘were destioyed because all of them bore a tone of complaint tovrards his wife Santa Ana. juana Ramirez Navarro, Interview with Vietor and Kristin Espinosa, Tepatitn, Jalisco, Mexico, Sth January, 2000. Ramirez’ clinical records were located by this author, with the help of Kristin Espinosa in the California Sate Archives, When the DeWitt State Hospital was closed down, only those records con- taining a long medical history were kept; as well as tose whose number ended in zero. Ramirez's record, barely 26 pages long, was saved from being destroyed because it ended in zero. Martin Ramirez, Fle No, 12080. DeWit State Hospital. would lke to drank dhe estate of Martin Ramirez for giving me legal access to this source. ‘Marco Chavez, Ramirea’ interpreter during the first psychological evaluation made at the DeWitt State Hospital Telephone interview with Vicior M. Espinosa, 13th March, 2008 James H. Durfee, former employee at DeWitt and responsible for the ward where Reanirez was ‘interned, Interview with Vietor and Kristin Espinosa, Aubum, California, 21st August, 2004 According to what can be deduced from the brief details contained in his clinical records, its very possible that Ramirez made the choice to withdraw into himself. His muteness was one ofthe pri: ‘lpal reasons for him being diagnosed as a catatonic schizophrenic. Father Thomas Relihan, Telephone interview with Victor M. Espinosa, 4th January, 2008. José Gomez Ramnirez. Interview with Vietor M. Espinosa, Tepatitén, Jalisco, th January, 2000, ‘The Worlds of Martin Ramirez aa ‘The fact that we do not have any testimony about his intentions as an artist has generated a great deal of speculation about the possible significance of the central themes of his work. The 450 drawings that it has been possible to locate to date are, therefore, our primary available source from which to explore Ramirez's vision and chart the world view they embody. To move forward in this dual task, itis nec- essary to understand the specific cultural context of the Mexico in which Ramirez lived, as well as to reconstruct his experience as a transnational migrant and as a patient in a psychiatric hospital. This study might, moreover, help to identify the visual environment which fed his oeuvre, as well as decypher some of the narra- tive and autobiographical elements which seem to be present in his work. The biographical focus of this text will show that Ramirez lived in a time marked by intense social aid cultural transformation, both in Mexico and in the United States. The Mexican Revolution (1910-1917), the Guerra Cristera (1926-1929), and the Great Depression (1929), as well as the first major economic migration of Mexicans to the United States (throughout the decade of the 1920s) put into cri- sis @ cultural framework that was organised around a deep Catholic religiosity, that constituted the world in which Ramitez lived for the first thirty years of his, life. In geographical terms, this cultural world was a microregion, extending from. the South East of Los Altos de Jalisco to the valley of Coynén and included the municipalities of Tepatitién, Atotonilco, Zapotianejo, and Tototlin. Ramirez's extant drawings all date from the late 1940s onwards when he was confined to institutions, cut off ftom any direct contact with that formative context. This body of work suggests that artistic creation became a prime means for preserving his identity, keeping alive his memory and trying to give sense and order to an exter- nal and internal world in crisis. Roots Martin Ramirez was born on the 30th January, 1895, on a small ranch known as Rincén de Velézquez, which belonged to the municipality of Tepatitl4n, Jalisco. Since colonial times, the inhabitants of this community, situated in a region known as Los Altos de Jalisco, had dedicated themselves to seasonal agriculture and raising cattle. As some anthropologists have indicated, this Mexican plateau ofed and dry soil is similar in many ways to the Sierra de Avila in Spain.$ In addi- tion to the fact that they share a landscape of “desolate beauty,” the principal ele~ ments shaping notions of identity in both regions are to be found in “the bond between the peaple and the earth, esteem for the family, religious fervour and the breeding of cattle as the primary activity.”® In adhering to its Spanish values, this culture tried to avoid racial mixing with the few indigenous people of the region. ero Tome Martin and Andrés Fabregas Puig, Entre Mundos:Procesos interculturales entre México _y Espana, Zapopan, Jalisco: Fl Colegio de Jalisco, 1958, Toe. p98, ‘Victor M, Espinosa10. u. 1 M ‘This region of Mexico is known for its ranchero genre of films starring Jorge Negrete, as well as its fair-skinned women. In Los Altos, Catholic practices did not mix well with the indigenous rites, because instead of being converted to Catholicism, the natives were annihilated during the Guerra Chichimeca (1550-1590), the longest and cruellest war of the Conquest.10 The Franciscans, who were in charge of evan- gelizing the region, focused on the construction of churches and the administra- tion of convents. In consequence, the Catholic religion became the key cultural ele- ment of integration, and the churches became not only the religious, but also the social centre of those communities.!2 Martin Ramirez must have had regular con- tact with several of these colonial buildings, especially the parish church of San Franciso de Asis in Tepatitl4n, where he was baptized (fig. 1), the little church of Capilla de Milpillas where he was married (fig. 2), and above all, the temple of San José de Gracia (fig. 4), where he went to mass before leaving for the United States, ‘The central square in San José was also one of the commercial centres to which Ramirez went to sell the products of the family vegetable plot.12 And, given the importance that this centre of commerce and pilgrimage has had at a national level since colonial times, it is also possible that Ramirez visited the sanctuary of San Juan de Los Lagos at some point in his lif. We don't know whether Ramirez worked only on the basis of memory, or if he relied on images of colonial churches that he had seen in the publications that he had access to in the hospital. But we can certainly imagine the impact of the majestic interior decoration of those churches, replete with murals, paintings and altarpieces, as well as sculptures in paste, plaster, wood and marble.13 We know, moreover, that Ramirez may have contemplated the ex-voros that serve as an offering or a token of gratitude from the recipient of a miracle, because the tem- ple dedicated to the Sefior de la Misericordia in Tepatitlén contains one of the biggest collections of ex-voros in Mexico. (fig. 6).14 ‘Also notable in this context is the devotion to the Immaculate Conception, as fig- ured in its apocalyptic version and represented with the moon at the feet of the Virgin, who tramples on a demon in the form of a serpent. This image was the protector of the Spanish conquistadors, and later, the patron saint of all the terri- tories of Nueva Espaha, Given the creole origins of its inhabitants, devotion to the Immaculate Conception in Los Altos de Jalisco was stronger than in other areas of Mexico. Although it is very probable that Ramirez. would have had contact with Philip Wayne Powell, La Guerra Chichimeca 1550-1600, Mesico City: Fondo de Culeura Eeonémica, 1996. José Diaz, Romén Rodriguez and Andrés Fabregas, Ef movimiento Cristeo: sociedad y conflicto en Js Altos de falisco, Mexico City: Editorial Nueva Imagen, 1979. Jana Ramirez Navarro, Interview with Vietor and Kristin Espinosa. Tepatitlén, Jalisco, Mexico, Sth January, 2000 For further information about the architecture and religious ar that was part of Ramire2’ world, see Equipo Diocesano de Misiones (ed,), Historia, arte yf: Diseess de San Juan de Las Lages, ‘Guadalajara: Diocese of San Juan de Los Lagos, 2000. Francisco Gellogos Franco, Las retablas del Senor de ia Misericordia ee Tepatttén, Guadalajara Consejo Nacional para la Culruray ls Artes y Fondo Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes de Tasco, 2001 ‘The Worlds of Martin Ramirezfig. 1. Parish Church of San Francisco de fg, 2, Parish Church of Capilla de Asis, Tepatitiin Jalisco Miipllas, Tepatitian, Jalisco fig. 3, Private altar dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, settlement in the municipality of ‘Totolén Jalisco 30 Victor M. Espinosacog fig. 4. Parish Church of San José ‘fig. 5. Sanctuary of San Juan de de Gracia, Tepatitian Jalisco [Ess Lagos, Jalisco fig. 6. Fx-votos dedicated to the Lord of Merey,Tepatitin, Jalisco fig. 7-8. The Immaculate Conception, Cspilla de Milpiias, Jalisco, ‘The Worlds of Martin Ramioz 31fig. 8. Maria Santa Ana Navarro fig. 10, The family of Martin Ramirez. Valézquez, wife of Martin Ramirez From jeft to right: Teofila, Agustina, Maria Santa ‘Ana, Candelasio y Juana fig. 11. Martin Ramirez, postcard sent to fig. 12. Martin Ramirez, D the family from Califorala Victor M. Fspinosaseveral versions of this motif in churches and private altars (fig. 3), the image which probably inspired his drawings was that of the virgin with open arms that ‘was kept in Capilla de Milpillas (figs, 7-8), a painting that recalls some works by Francisco de Zurbarén. Martin Ramirez. wes fifteen years old when this world organised around the Catholic religion entered a period of crisis. The Mexican Revolution broke out in. 1910, and despite the fact that the region of Los Altos witnessed no important bat- tles, many of its inhabitants had to migrate to other places because of the ensu- ing economic crisis and the lack of security, Ramifrez migrated to Tototlan after his marriage to Santa Ana Navarro, on the 31st May, 1918.15 Both had already lost both parents by the time of the wedding, and both belonged to poor, landless families that had to work for one of the region's landowners. The social origin of Santa Ana was even lowlier than that her husband, evidenced by the fact that her grandfather and her father, who died of “irritation” [irriiacién] had been given “alms burials” in the Municipal Cemetry.16 During the first two seasons of work, the couple set themselves up on a ranch called El Venado [The Deer}, where Juana, their first daughter, was bom in 1919. ‘Iwo years later, the family moved to another ranch on the same estate, called La Puerta del Rincén; it was there, in 1921, that their daughter Tedfila was born, Several years later, in 1923, Agustina, who bore the closest physical resemblance to her father, was born. Like her sisters, she too was registered as being of “indige- nous race mixed with white.” Photographs show that Santa Ana had darker skin, and more indigenous features than Martin (fig. 9). Study of their genealogies indi- cates that both belonged to a border area where interracial mixing had been more intense than in the central area of Los Altos de Jalisco. In 1924, Martin Ramirez. set up home near San José de Gracia, a village with strong, commercial links to Atotonilco, where the nearest railway station was located. At that time, San José had a more diversified economy: shoes, saddles and a great variety of pottery with a lead-based glaze were produced there.'8 In one of the most fertile zones of the valley of San José, Ramirez, bought twenty acres of land that included a family vegetable plot and a house made of adobe, stone and til ‘The Ramirez family lived on that small property, where Ramfrez, bred farmyard animals, and hunted, until he decided to go to work in the United States. As “a man on a horse,” Ramirez had already ceased to belong to the poorest stratum of day labourers and landless peasants.1® It may have been this slight rise in eco- 15, Martin Ramirez Gonzdlez and Maria Santa Ana Navarro Velézquez. Marriage Cortifcate, patish archives, Partoqula de La Inmaculada Concepeién, Capila de Mipillas, Jalisco. 16, Death Certificate of José Jest Navarro Medine and Juan Navarro Tejeda, Mu ‘Tepatidén Jalisco, 17. Bitth Certificates of Juana, Tefila and Agustina Ramirez Navarro, Municipal Archive, Tototn, Ialisco. 18, José Alberto Casillas, Historia general de Teepattlén, Volumen 2, Tepatitiin, falisco:Josalee, 1988, 19, Interview with Guadalupe Villa, who was siteen years old when she worked milking Raminez’s cows. Interview conducted by Vietor M, Espinosa, San José de Gracia, Tepatitsn, Jalisco, 11th June, 2001, sal Archive of ‘The Worlds of Martin Ramitez 34 22. 23, 25. 26 nomic status that pushed him to search for a quicker way of accumulating capi- tal. Not only would that allow him to finish paying off his property but, with the help of one of his brothers, it would give him the resources to exploit his land in a more intensive way20 Migration and Exile The passing engine can do no good because it darkens at home and dawns in foreign lands “Listen and Iisen good 0 the roar ofthe railway That takes mem away but never returns them? On the 24th August, 1925, Martin Ramirez, and three friends took a train from Atotonilco station to El Paso, Texas.22 There, at the beginning of September, an employment office sent them to work on the railway; later they sought employ- ‘ment in the mines of Northern California? Ramirez. faced exhausting working days in a labour environment marked by racism toward Mexicans. Living under difficult conditions, immigrants were forced to do the heaviest and most danger- ous tasks, Tiredness and anxiety, coupled with homesickness and excessive con- sumption of alcohol often pushed them toward what was described as a state of mind comparable only to madness.24 Making Ramirez's exile more difficult was the birth of his son, Candelario, (whom he would only ever know from a single photograph), on the 2nd February, 1926 (fig. 10) Ramirez periodically sent money to his brother Atanasio for the maintenance of his family and to pay off debts on the purchase of the land,?5 His return from the United States was however delayed by the outbreak of the Guerra Cristera, in January 1927. An armed rebellion against the Mexican government that extended from the Altos de Jalisco to the whole of Western Mexico, it lasted for more than two years.28 La Guerra Cristera is infamous for the high degree of savagery on both sides. With the aim of isolating the Cristeros who had risen up in arms, the Atanasio, Martfo’s oder brother who marvied the younger sister of Santa Ana, moved in with his {anil to lve in Martin's house with the aim of staying to look after his property and his family. “El Perrocazrl” [The Railway], migrant corrido from songs compiled by Manuel Gamio, ata work: cers! camp inthe United States, in 1926. Maria Herrera-Sobek, Northuerd Bound: The Mexican Immigrant experience in ballad and song, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. ‘The date of the certificate was provided by Agustina Ramirez Navarro. Interview with Victor M. Espinosa, Tepatitlan, Jalisco, th January, 2000. The date of entry to the United States appears in the nical records and was provided by Ramirez. ‘We have two main sourees of information about Ramiea' life as a migrant labourer: the memories of aneighbour in Tepatiddn chat also went to work in the mines of Northern California, and the interviews with Mexican migrants made by Manvel Garmio between 1928 and 1927: Ramén Aceves Villa, Mi vida es una novela, Tepatilén, Jalisco, Consejo de Cronistas de Tepatitian Morelos, 1999, and Manuel Gamo, El nmigrante mexicano: la historia de su vida: entrevistas completas, 41926-1927, edited by Devra Weber, Roberto Melville and Juan Vicente Palermo, Mexico City, Editorial Pornia, 2002, Alfonso Fabila, El problema de la emigracién de obreras y campesinos mexicanas, Mexico City: ‘alleres Graficos de la Nacion, 1929. Juana Ramirez Navarro, th January, 2000, Fora detailed history ofthis conflet, see Jean A. Meyer, La Cristiada, Volumes 1-3, Mexico City: ilo Veintiuno Editores, 1973, Victor M. Espinosa27 28, 0, a1 Federalists burt farms, executing a great number of priests without tial, and forcing thousands of rural families to abandon their belongings and concentrate in the bigger settlements. These processes of “concentracién” were carried out on three different occasions. In some places, as was the case in Tepatitlén where the Ramirez family was re-concentrated, there were outbreaks of epidemics and famine. On the roads it was common to find the hanged bodies of those who had disobeyed Government orders or who had been accused of collaboration with the Cristeros.27 At the beginning of the war, the clergy closed all the churches, which were later ransacked, or used as stables by the government troops. Processions and religious ceremonies were suspended, and those religious images that could be saved from looting were hidden in private homes, or in caves up in the moun- tains, where mass was celebrated clandestinely, at a great risk to life. Families of those who had emigrated to the United States urged them not to come back, because the difficulty of remaining neutral put men’s lives in danger. Since the war also made rural production difficult, the dollars they sent back were even. more vital for the survival of their families. Conflict broke out precisely in those zones with the strongest tradition of migration to the United States.28 Some 450,000 people left for the United States; while another 200,000 migrated towards ‘the big cities.2* Given the social networks endemic to migration that connect par- ticular communities of origin and destination, it is most likely that Ramirez learned about the war from acquaintances—or neighbours who headed off toward California, some of them ex-Cristeros, as well as from family correspondence. Itwas by way of a letter, sent by his brother Atanasio, that he learned details of the ‘manner in which his family had been affected by the conflict. In addition to the fact that his property and animals were destroyed, Ramirez learned that his brother and a friend had been accused by the Federales of being spies for the Cristeros: Atanasio had been forced to pretend to be Santa Anas husband and father of her family in order to avoid being executed, while his friend had been forced to join the army to save his own life. After a long wait, Atanasio received a reply from Ramirez asking him to take charge of his children if Santa Ana were to continue fighting on the Government's side, because Ramirez knew that he was never going to return to Jalisco. This letter suggested that Ramirez believed that his wife had also been forced to join the Federal Army. According to Ramirez’ old- est daughter, who had heard her mother tell the story several times, the family thought that this misunderstanding triggered the deep confusion that led Ramirez. to madness. For an illustrated history ofthis war, see Jean Meyer, César Moheno, Héctor Toledano and Femando Garcia Ramirez, La Cristiada, Volumes 1-4, Mexico City: Editorial Cli, 1997. Julia Grace Darling Young, Mexican Emigration During the Cristara War, 1926-1928, Doctoral Thesis, Department of History, University of Chicago, 2008 Enrique Kratize, Mexico: Biography of Power A History of Modern Mexico, 1810-1996, New Yorks Harper Collins Publisher, 1997 Victor M. Espinosa, El dilema del retorno, Mexico: Hl Colegio de Michoacdn y Fl Colegio de Ialisco, 1988. Juana Re Sth January-7th August, ez Navarro, multiple interviews with Vietar and Kristin Espinosa, Tepattén,Jallsco, 000. "The Worlds of Martin Ramirez 385 38, Economic Crisis and Psychiatric Seclusion ‘They will die, you wit die. Through the valley of Josajat will you pass With the devil will you meet And in this way you will lt him: Get thee behind me, Satan; You uill take no pare in me, Because on the day ofthe Holy Cross (One hundred avemarias did I pray And as many times erased myself'2 Since Ramirez did not experience the Guerra Cristera at close hand, itis impossi- ble to know with certainty which details of the conflict he came to know by word of mouth from other migrants, and which by way of the Spanish language press which circulated within California. However, for someone who had grown up ina world ruled by the Catholic religion, that war must have taken on apocalyptic dimensions in his imagination. Those anxieties or confustons were surely com- pounded by the Great Depression of 1929. Like thousands of Mexicans, Ramirez lost his job. The government of California responded to the subsequent ‘vagabondism’ of unemployed Mexicans, by mandating that all immigrants be expelled from the country, according to the most reliable figures. This policy of deportation extended over a number of years so that between 1930 and 1934, nearly 350,000 people of Mexican origin were displaced —either by force or volun- tarily—from the United States to Mexico. Ramirez's travelling companions were apparenily deported in a ship from San Francisco to Mazatlan in Mexico. Ramirez, however, did not return with them.23 It is not known how Ramiter. was able to stay in the United States nor how he sur- vived those years of economic crisis. The exact reasons for which he was arrested and then interned in a psychiatric hospital on the 9th of January, 1931, are not very clear. According to José Gémez, his nephew, Ramirez. was arrested while running naked through the streets like a madman. Ramirez himself seems to have given many different accounts to the doctors who questioned him, In one version, the police were supposed to have arrested him white he was roaming around an aban- doned building, writing the phrase “it is going to rain today” in Spanish on one of the walls. On another occasion, Ram{rez declared that his boss had sent him to hospital. Officially, Ramirez was interned on account of his emotional state: “noisy, restless, violent, dangerous, destructive, excited, and depressed.”35 The doctor that examined him diagnosed manic depressions which had apparently Popular and very common Catholic prayer from Los Altos de [alisco quoted by Agustin Yasiez, ALfilo del agua, Ciudad de México: Editorial Poria [1947], 1988. One of the most colourful portraits of daily life in Los Altos de Jalisco during the period in which Ramirez was alive, can be found in the novels of Agustin Yariez, especially in Las tierras flacas, Mexico Cty, Joaquin Mortiz, 1963. Fernando Saul Enciso, “zCuténtos fueron! La repatriacidn de mexicanos en los Estadas Unidas Gurante [a Gran Depresion,” Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies, 32:2, 2007, pp. 53-81. Ramirez's youngest daughter was present when Ranalrez’s fends stopped in Tepatitan to give hhews to Santa Ana, Agustina Ramirez Navarro. Interview with Vielor M. Espinasa, Stockton, California, 7th August, 2000. ‘According to José, this was what a social worker told him during his vst to the Dewi State Hospital in 1952, interview with Victor M. Espinosa, Tepatitén, 7th August, 200. Martin Ramirez clinical record, Vietor M. Espinosaa7 20 39, begun to manifest itself several months before his arrest. Based on the argument that he was very confused and unable to take care of himself, as well as the fact that he “sang to himself” and laughed in a very “stupid manner” for no apparent reason the Superior Court of the State of California ordered him to be interned in Stockton State Hospital, California's oldest institution for mental patients. On the 2nd of February, after @ month of being under observation, Ramirez, was ques- tioned, with the help of an interpreter of Mexican origin, by a committee com- prised of nine doctors. In that meeting, his case was presented as brain damage that had possibly been brought on by an attack of syphilis. During that first eval- uation, it was decided to postpone a definitive diagnosis because five members of the committee thought that Ramfrez was merely confused, while the rest were of the opinion that it was a typical case of dementia praecox. Ramirez, began work- ing on the hospital farm then escaped, only to come back of his own volition two days later. On the 12th of August, 1932, he underwent a second evaluation in front of seven doctors, this time without the help of an interpreter. By a unanimous vote, the diagnosis was “dementia praecox, catatonic form.” During both exami nations, Ramirez limited himself to simply repeating that he did not speak English and that he was “no loco” [not mad]. In 1935, shorty after his third attempt at escape, Ramirez started to draw in the free time that was left to him after finishing work on the hospital farm. According to some of the doctors, Ramirez had “some talent” and was already producing drawings that had “some originality” and were “really excellent.”3? In 1948, due to overpopulation at Stockton, Ramirez was transferred to the DeWitt State Hospital, along with other mental patients considered incurable, mentally retarded, or suf- fering from tuberculosis. In DeWitt, apart from the time he spent eating, Ramirez dedicated himself to “smoking and producing copious quantities of art.” He worked on the floor, crouched in the same position in which men working at the ranch would take a break at the side of the road, engage in conversation, and smoke, Ramérez would initially trace a motif with graphite pencil, or charcoal from the top of used wooden matches he collected from the rubbish, He then coloured in the drawings with crayons, pencils, watercolours, chalks, shoe polish and even juice that he extracted from fruit made up into a thick paste, mixed from ats and other materials in vessels he fashioned himself. Lacking paintbrushes, he applied this “paint” over the lines with matchsticks.38 ‘The only visit he received from a member of his family in his 32 years of confinement was from his nephew José Gémer, Ramirez reaffirmed his decision not to return to Mexico, In Winter 1963, he fell seriously ill due to “an acute pulmonary edema.”"38 {bid Une now, ithas noc heen possible to locate or ielentify any drawings that Ramitez produced inthe first hospital, Anumber of drawings were sent to Ramirez's family ror the hospital but they Were destroyed in the 1960s because of concerns ahout tuherculoss. Juana Ramirez Navarro, mult! ple interviews with Victor and Kristin Espinosa, Tepatitlén, Jalisco, 5th Ianuary-7th August, 2000. For more details about Ramirez’ life inside DeWitt see Vietor M. Bspinosa and Kristin E. Espinosa, “The Life of Manin Ramitez,” Martin Ramirez, Brooke Davis Anderson, Seatle: Marquand Books and New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2007. Death Certificate of Martin Ramirez Gonzalez. Department of Public Health, Callforta. Copy obtained by the author in the Office of Vital Statistics, Placer County, California, 4th June, 199. “The Worlds of Martin Ramitez a7After several days of illness, on 17th February, 1963, he died of cardiac arrest at the age of 67. According to the forensic report, he had suffered for several years from “diabetes and severe arteriosclerosis with occlusion.”#0 The Mexican consulate in Sacramento notified his family of his death but the family lacked the means to pay for the return of his body to Mexico, or to pay for a funeral in the United States: he was buried in an unused comer of the Cementerio del Calvario, in Sacramento. 40, Ibid. Vietor M. Bspinosa1985 Ramfrez begins to draw on a regular basis. ‘The Ramirez family receives a letter from Stockton State Hospital, informing them about Ramirez's condition. S43 Ramftez is transferred to DeWitt State Hospital in Auburn, California ‘Some of Ram(rez’s drawings are sent by Stockton State Hospital to his family in Mexico, 1950 Charles Muskavitch, a member of the Russian nobility and a conservator specialized on Latin American art affiliated to the EB, Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, introduces Ramirez's drawings to the Sacramento art world. ‘Tarmo Pasto, professor of psychology and art at Sacramento State College, meets Ramirez for the first time. 1951 Gallery director Don R.Birrel organizes Ramirez’ first solo show at the E.B, Cracker Art Gallery. 1952 On January 6, Ramirez receives his first and only visit froma {amily member when his nephew José Gémez Ra for two days. During the academic year of 1952-1953, Tarmo Pasto receives a ‘grant from the Ford Foundation for research into “psychology theory and art expression.” In November, Pasto organizes a Ramirez exhibition at the ‘Women’s clubrooms of Stephens Union on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. 1 In January, Alfred Newmeyer organizes a solo Ramirez show “The Ar of Schizophrene” at the Mills College Museum of ‘Artin Oakland, California, ‘In May, Pasto includes some Ramirez's drawings in Emotion and Image: The Pictures in Our Minds, a collective exhibition of artwork by patients from various California mental hospitals at the MLH. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. Pasto organizes a Ramirez exhibition at the Stanford Research Institute. 4 3955 Pasto sends ten of Ramirez’s drawings to James Johnson ‘Sweeney, then director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim. ‘Museum in New York, but no plans are made for an exhibition. 1956 Pasto goes to Helsinki on a Fulbright fellowship. His visits to Ramirez become less frequent. 1959 asto visits Ramirez for the last time. 1960 ‘Max Dunievitz, a retired physician working at DeWitt, meets, ‘Ramirez and begins collecting his artwork, 3961 Ramirez's artis shown at the Joe and Emily Lowe Art Center at Syracuse University, New York, thanks to Tarmo Pasto. 3963 Ramirez dies on February 17 at DeWitt of an acute pulmonary edema. Chronology 185