Tortilla Market

ca. 1930s

Mexican, 1871-1946

Before there were “Los Tres Grandes”—the Mexican muralists Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros—there was Alfredo Ramos Martínez. Born in Monterrey and educated in Mexico City and Paris, Ramos Martínez went on to lead populist curriculum reforms at the prestigious and historic Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes as its director. From there, he founded the Open Air Schools project, which brought art literally out of the academies and to the people through its program of painting out-of-doors. In this capacity, he educated a generation of Mexican artists, including Siqueiros, and, in works such as this scene of tortilla vendors, he filtered Mexican folk life through the Modernist lens of cubism and post-impressionism. His example had a profound impact not only on Mexican muralism but also on the work of many American modernists, including the Northwest artists Kenneth Callahan, Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, and William Cumming.

Oil on canvas

30 5/8 x 36 1/2 in. (77.8 x 92.7 cm)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

40.56

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, 1939-40.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, American Art: The Stories We Carry, Oct. 20, 2022 - ongoing.

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