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Teodoro Ramos Blanco

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In this article, the surname is Ramos Blanco.
Teodoro Ramos Blanco
Born1902
Havana, Cuba
Died1972(1972-00-00) (aged 69–70)
Havana, Cuba
Other namesTeodoro Ramos Blanco y Penita,
Teodoro Ramos–Blanco
EducationAcademia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro
Occupation(s)Sculptor, educator
Years active1911–1970s
Notable workInner Life (1934)
MovementAfrocubanismo

Teodoro Ramos Blanco (1902 – 1972) was an Afro–Cuban sculptor and educator. He primarily worked in wood, bronze, marble, and stone; and his work addresses racial issues, and Afro-Cuban themes.[1][2] In the 1930s and 1940s, Ramos Blanco was the foremost Cuban figurative sculptor.[3]

Early life and education

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Teodoro Ramos Blanco was born in 1902, in Havana, Cuba.[4][3] He started making artwork at a young age.

He attended Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro in Havana and graduated in 1928, followed by study in Italy from 1928 until 1930.[1][3][5]

Career

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Ramos Blanco won a gold medal for his artwork at the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 in Seville, Spain.[6] In 1930, he had an exhibition at Casa de España in Rome, Italy.[5]

Langston Hughes wrote a profile on Ramos Blanco in November 1930, in the Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, and he was touted as an important figure in both Cuban art, and in art of the United States.[7] Ramos Blanco also created a bust of Hughes titled, Head of Langston Hughes (c. 1930s).[3] Many of his artworks were featured in The Crisis magazine.[3]

Ramos Blanco was included in the seminal group art exhibition, Exhibition of the Work of Negro Artists (1933) at the Art Centre, New York City, hosted by the William E. Harmon Foundation.[8] That same year, he had a solo exhibition with the William E. Harmon Foundation.[3]

Ramos Blanco was awarded a prize at the American Negro Exposition (1940) in Chicago.[3]

Ramos Blanco's portraits included a bust of Gen. Antonio Maceo (1941) a military leader in Cuban independence, which is housed at Howard University in Washington, D.C.; a public sculpture in Cuba of Mariana Grajales Cuello (1928), a Cuban independence and women's rights activist; a public sculpture in Baltimore, Maryland of José Martí (1959), a Cuban independence activist; public sculpture in Havana of Cuban poet Placido (born as Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés [es]),; a monumental statue in Port-au-Prince of Henri Christophe (1954), a key leader in the Haitian Revolution; and of Alexandre Sabès Pétion, who was the first president of the Republic of Haiti.[9][10][11][12]

His work was included in the group exhibition, The Latin-American Collection of the Museum of Modern Art (1943), at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.[13]

Starting around 1944, Ramos Blanco taught sculpture at the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro.[5]

Death and legacy

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Ramos Blanco died in 1972, in Havana.[3]

His work has been in museum collections, including at the former Riverside Museum, and at the Museum of Modern Art.[3] His artist files can be found at the Frick Art Research Library, the Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery Library, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

The Galería Teodoro Ramos Blanco in Havana bares his name.

List of works

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Date Title Materials Location Notes
1911 Sitting Man (Spanish: Hombre Sentado) bronze, onyx base
1928 Maternal Heroism (Spanish: Heroísmo Maternal), monument of Mariana Grajales Cuello bronze Havana, Cuba in Vedado neighborhood
c. 1930 Head of Langston Hughes bronze New York City, US at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture[3]
c. 1934 Tomb for Juan Gualberto Gomez stone Havana, Cuba [12][14]
1934 Inner Life (Spanish: Vida Interior) white marble Havana, Cuba Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana[15]
1937 Head of Black Woman (Spanish: Cabeza de Negra) wood
1939 Old Black Woman (Spanish: Mujer Negra Mayor) acana wood New York City, US part of the Museum of Modern Art[5][16][17]
1941 Bust of Gen. Antonio Maceo bronze Howard University [9][10][12][18]
1943 Bust of José Martí stone Sancti Spíritus, Cuba at Provincial Library (Biblioteca Provincial)[19]
1948 Honor to Mothers of the World (Spanish: Honor a las Madres del Mundo) limestone, marble base Tampa, Florida, US [6]
1950 Mother and Son (Spanish: Madre e Hijo) stone Havana, Cuba at Leonor Perez Cabrera Maternity Center, Old Havana neighborhood[20]
c. 1954 Monument to Henri Christophe broze Port-au-Prince, Haiti in Champ de Mars park
1959 Monument to José Martí bronze Baltimore, Maryland, US erected in 1998, at intersection of North Broadway and East Fayette Street[12][21][22][23]
Monument to Placido (Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés [es]) stone Havana, Cuba in Parque del Cristo[12]
Antonio Guiteras bronze [12]
Jean-Jacques Dessalines bronze [12]
Alexandre Sabès Pétion bronze [11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Teodoro Ramos Blanco". Cernuda Arte. Retrieved February 28, 2025.
  2. ^ "8.11 Teodoro Ramos Blanco". Voices of the Race: Black Newspapers in Latin America, 1870–1960. Cambridge University Press. September 1, 2022. ISBN 978-1-009-08152-8.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Martin, Frank (1997). "Ramos–Blancos, Teodoro". St. James Guide to Black Artists. Detroit, MI: St. James Press. pp. 445–446. ISBN 978-1-55862-220-3 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ Morrison, Keith (1985). Art in Washington and Its Afro-American Presence: 1940–1970. Washington Project for the Arts. p. 101.
  5. ^ a b c d "Ramos Blanco, Teodoro". Le Delarge. Retrieved February 28, 2025.
  6. ^ a b Guzzo, Paul (May 5, 2021). "This 73-year-old Mother's Day statue needs a home". The Virgin Islands Daily News. Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved February 28, 2025.
  7. ^ Guridy, Frank Andre (2010). Forging Diaspora: Afro-Cubans and African Americans in a World of Empire and Jim Crow. University of North Carolina Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-8078-3361-2.
  8. ^ Exhibition of Work by Negro Artists. New York City, New York: Harmon Foundation. 1933 – via Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  9. ^ a b "Bust of Cuban Patriot Is Unveiled at Howard U." The Call. July 11, 1941. p. 4. Retrieved February 28, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ a b "Your History by J.A. Rogers". New Pittsburgh Courier. November 26, 1960. p. 13. Retrieved February 28, 2025.
  11. ^ a b Leary, John Patrick (November 10, 2016). A Cultural History of Underdevelopment: Latin America in the U.S. Imagination. University of Virginia Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-8139-3917-9.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Ferrer, Ada (June 28, 2022). Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize): An American History. Simon and Schuster. pp. 467–469. ISBN 978-1-5011-5456-0.
  13. ^ Kirstein, Lincoln (1943). The Latin-American Collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Museum of Modern Art. p. 94.
  14. ^ Revista de la Habana (in Spanish). Editorial R. H. 1946.
  15. ^ Magazine of Art. Vol. 32. American Federation of Arts. 1939. p. 422.
  16. ^ "Old Negro Woman". Penn State University Libraries. Retrieved February 28, 2025.
  17. ^ Sullivan, Edward (September 20, 2000). Latin American Art. Phaidon Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-7148-3980-6.
  18. ^ "Memorial to Cuba's Greatest Soldier". The Afro-American. June 28, 1941. p. 12. Retrieved February 28, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Antigua Sociedad "El Progreso"/Biblioteca Provincial". Calles y rincones de Sancti Spíritus de Cuba. July 1, 2016.
  20. ^ "Maternity homes in Cuba: A story of human-centered care". Liberation News. Retrieved February 28, 2025.
  21. ^ "José Martí Historical Marker". Historical Marker Database (HMDB). Retrieved February 28, 2025.
  22. ^ Kelly, Cindy (June 10, 2011). Outdoor Sculpture in Baltimore: A Historical Guide to Public Art in the Monumental City. JHU Press. p. 325. ISBN 978-0-8018-9722-1.
  23. ^ Farley, Michael Anthony (January 28, 2024). "The Public Art Chronicles, Vol. I: A Cuban Revolutionary on North Broadway". BmoreArt. Retrieved February 28, 2025.
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