MartÃn RamÃrez was one of the first untrained creators to earn the title of 'œoutsider artist,' said Constance Wyndham in the Financial Times. A Mexican immigrant diagnosed with schizophrenia in the 1920s and consigned to American mental institutions for the rest of his life, RamÃrez created hundreds of beguilingly mysterious drawings that earned him renown when finally displayed publicly in the 1950s. 'œAlongside the Swiss artist Adolf Wolfli and the Chicago janitor Henry Darger, RamÃrez counts as one of the outsider greats.' But the American Folk Art Museum's major retrospective sets out to challenge the popular image of RamÃrez and other outsider artists as unsophisticated visionaries. RamÃrez's references to popular culture and playful use of pictorial space show a graphic sensibility as sophisticated as many of his 'œinsider' contemporaries.
If there's any justice, this show 'œshould render null and void the insider-outsider distinction' once and for all, said Roberta Smith in The New York Times. RamÃrez isn't merely one of the finest outsider artists. He's 'œone of the greatest artists of the 20th century,' an inventive, irresistible draftsman on par with Saul Steinberg and Paul Klee. On scroll-like sheaves he imagined landscapes filled with ornate trains, 'œbug-like' cars, and hive-like hills. These fanciful images were once thought to have sprung entirely from RamÃrez's imagination. New research has shown that they reflect the landscape of his youth in Jalisco, Mexico, and his years riding horses there. RamÃrez's creations, in other words, were not simply a symptom of his illness. They were, 'œlike all great art, firmly rooted in real experiences and memories that he reshaped and distilled.'
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
June 12 editorial cartoonsCartoons Thursday's cartoons - due process, L.A. traffic, and more
-
Homework: Geoff Dyer brings 'a whole world' to life in his memoirThe Week Recommends Author writes about his experiences with 'humour and tenderness'
-
What happens if Israel attacks Iran?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Israel is 'ready to strike' and Tehran has plans for counterattacks against the US as nuclear talks appear deadlocked
-
If/Thenfeature Tony-winning Idina Menzel “looks and sounds sensational” in a role tailored to her talents.
-
Rocky
feature It’s a wonder that this Rocky ever reaches the top of the steps.
-
Love and Information
feature Leave it to Caryl Churchill to create a play that “so ingeniously mirrors our age of the splintered attention span.”
-
The Bridges of Madison County
feature Jason Robert Brown’s “richly melodic” score is “one of Broadway’s best in the last decade.”
-
Outside Mullingar
feature John Patrick Shanley’s “charmer of a play” isn’t for cynics.
-
The Night Alive
feature Conor McPherson “has a singular gift for making the ordinary glow with an extra dimension.”
-
No Man’s Land
feature The futility of all conversation has been, paradoxically, the subject of “some of the best dialogue ever written.”
-
The Commons of Pensacola
feature Stage and screen actress Amanda Peet's playwriting debut is a “witty and affecting” domestic drama.