Ricardo Martínez de Hoyos

Ricardo Martínez de Hoyos (October 28, 1918 – January 11, 2009) was a Mexican painter noted for his figurative work on unreal atmospheres. He was one of several children from a very large family to make a mark in his field, along with Oliverio in sculpture and Jorge in acting. His work was exhibited in various parts of the world, featured in collective tours of Mexican art. Individually, he exhibited mostly in Mexico including important venues such as the Museo de Arte Moderno and the Palacio de Bellas Artes, which held a tribute to the artist in 1994. Since his death, a cultural center named after him has been established in the historic center of Mexico City.

Martínez was born on Calle de Madrid, near Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City. He was the thirteenth of sixteen children born to Nester Martínez Perales from Nuevo León and Elena de Hoyos de la Garz from Coahuila. Several of his brothers became notable: Oliverio for sculpture, Enrico and Homero in architecture and Jorge became a known actor.

In 1925, he began his education at the Alberto Correa primary school, but three years later, the family went to live in San Antonio, Texas, where his mother had relatives.(foundacion) The family remained for four years, returning to Mexico in 1932 because of the Great Depression . This experience made Martínez learn English fluently and a fan of works by authors Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, William Faulkner, John Dos Passos and Walt Whitman . He returned to school in Mexico, attending Orientación middle school in 1935 then graduating to the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria in 1938. In 1939 he founded a group called the Amigos de la Conservación de los Frescos de José Clemente Orozco in high school to protect the school’s murals from vandalism. To please his parents, Martínez then went to study law at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México but dropped out months later to pursue painting. He then registered to enter the Academy of San Carlos, but lasted only a day as he did not like its norms and values.

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