Mari Carmen Ramirez was born in 1955 in San Juan.  

Mari Carmen Ramirez is an American curator. She was named one of 25 Most Influential Hispanics, Time Magazine, 2005; recipient Peter Norton Family Foundation Award for Curatorial Excellence, Annual award for curatorial excellence, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, 2005; Getty Curatorial Residence Fellowship. 

Master in art history, University Chicago. Doctor of Philosophy in art history, University Chicago. 

Director Museum Anthropology, History, and Art University Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras. Curator Latin America art Jack S. Blanton Museum Art, University Texas, Austin, 1989—2001. Worthman Curator Latin America Art Museum Fine Arts, Houston, since 2001, director International Center for the Arts of the Americas, since 2001. She has been a curator for more than 30 years. As the first director of the International Center for the Arts of the Americas at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Ramirez is responsible for some of the most celebrated initiatives to come out of the museum and has helped elevate 20th-century Latin American art. 

Mari Carmen Ramirez has been listed as a noteworthy curator by Marquis Who’s Who. 

Important shows 

The Armory Show, New York-US, (2022) 

Beatriz González: una retrospectiva, Museo Banco de la República, Bogota-Colombia, (2020) 

Contesting Modernity: Informalism in Venezuela, 1955–1975, Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH), (2018-2019) 

Home – So Different, So Appealing, Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH), (2017-2018) 

 

Adiós Utopia: Dreams and Deceptions in Cuban Art Since 1950, Walker Art Center, (2017-2018) 

HOME — So Different, So Appealing, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), (2017) 

 

Antonio Berni: Juanito y Ramona, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires – MALBA – Fundación MALBA (2014-2015) 

Antonio Berni: Juanito and Ramona: Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH), (2013-2014) 

Intersecting Modernities: Latin American Art from The Brillembourg Capriles Collection, Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH), (2013) 

Carlos Cruz-Diez. El color en el espacio y en el tiempo, MUAC – Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo de México D.F., (2012-2013) 

Publications 

Mari Carmen Ramirez (Ed.) (2003): Questioning the Line: Gego in Context (International Center for the Arts of the Americas), Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts 

Mari Carmen Ramirez, Hector Olea (2004): Inverted Utopias: Avant-Garde Art In Latin America, Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts 

Mari Carmen Ramirez (2006): Gego: Between Transparency and the Invisible, Buenos Aires, Malba 

Mari Carmen Ramirez (2007): Hélio Oiticica: the body of colour, London, Tate 

Mari Carmen Ramirez, Tomas Ybarra-Frausto, and Hector Olea (2012): Resisting Categories: Latin American and/or Latino? (Volume 1), Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts 

Mari Carmen Ramirez (Ed.) (2016): Contingent Beauty: Contemporary Art from Latin America, Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts 

Mari Carmen Ramirez, Chon A. Noriega, and Pilar Tompkins Rivas (2017): Home ― So Different, So Appealing, Los Angeles, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press 

Mari Carmen Ramirez, Tahia Rivero, María Gaztambide, Josefina Manrique and Gabriela Rangel (2018): Contesting Modernity: Informalism in Venezuela, 1955–1975, Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts 

Interesting Links 

Mari Carmen Ramirez — Clase “Grabado experimental y radicalidades del dibujo en Latinoamérica” (2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8uFATj6XcQ  

Conferencia “Cómo se yergue el ícono Frida”, por Mari Carmen Ramírez (2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhIN0nyTvKk 

Diego Parra (2018): “Flujos, Reverberaciones Y Resistencias. Entrevista Con Mari Carmen Ramírez”, in: artishockrevista.com, https://artishockrevista.com/2018/05/30/entrevista-mari-carmen-ramirez/ 

Holland Cotter (2007): “Off the Page and in the Air, Drawing Transformed”, in: The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/arts/design/27gego.html 

Arthur Lubow (2008): “After Frida”, in: The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/magazine/23ramirez-t.html 

Richard Lacayo (2005): “25 Most Influential Hispanics in America. Mari Carmen Ramírez”, in: Time, https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2008201_2008200_2008223,00.html 

LASS Interview Mari Carmen Ramirez (LACAP) (2015): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv1p-SUlDnc 

Mari Carmen Ramírez (2020): “Inverted Strategies: An Exhibition as Matrix for the Permanent Collection”, The Frick Collection, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuMDLSHgx-4 

The Insurgent Archive: A Conversation on Art and Institutional Practice with Mari Carmen Ramírez and Yasmin Ramirez (2021): https://vimeo.com/516418059 

Mari Carmen Ramírez, Wortham Curator of Latin-American Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and Director, ICAA (2009): https://vimeo.com/71853111 

Jeffrey Brown (2021): Houston museum highlights contributions of Latin American artists to 20th century art: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/houston-museum-highlights-contributions-of-latin-american-artists-to-20th-century-art