# Teodoro Ramos Blanco

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. In the 1930s and 1940s, Ramos Blanco was the foremost Cuban figurative sculptor.

## Early life and education

Teodoro Ramos Blanco was born in 1902, in Havana, Cuba. 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.

## Career

Ramos Blanco won a gold medal for his artwork at the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 in Seville, Spain. In 1930, he had an exhibition at Casa de España in Rome, Italy.
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. Ramos Blanco also created a bust of Hughes titled, Head of Langston Hughes (c. 1930s). Many of his artworks were featured in The Crisis magazine.
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. That same year, he had a solo exhibition with the William E. Harmon Foundation.
Ramos Blanco was awarded a prize at the American Negro Exposition (1940) in Chicago.
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.
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.
Starting around 1944, Ramos Blanco taught sculpture at the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro.

## Death and legacy

Ramos Blanco died in 1972, in Havana.
His work has been in museum collections, including at the former Riverside Museum, and at the Museum of Modern Art. 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

| 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 |
| c. 1934 | Tomb for Juan Gualberto Gomez | stone | Havana, Cuba | |
| 1934 | Inner Life (Spanish: Vida Interior) | white marble | Havana, Cuba | Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana |
| 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 |
| 1941 | Bust of Gen. Antonio Maceo | bronze | Howard University | |
| 1943 | Bust of José Martí | stone | Sancti Spíritus, Cuba | at Provincial Library (Biblioteca Provincial) |
| 1948 | Honor to Mothers of the World (Spanish: Honor a las Madres del Mundo) | limestone, marble base | Tampa, Florida, US | |
| 1950 | Mother and Son (Spanish: Madre e Hijo) | stone | Havana, Cuba | at Leonor Perez Cabrera Maternity Center, Old Havana neighborhood |
| 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 |
| | Monument to Placido (Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés [es]) | stone | Havana, Cuba | in Parque del Cristo |
| | Antonio Guiteras | bronze | | |
| | Jean-Jacques Dessalines | bronze | | |
| | Alexandre Sabès Pétion | bronze | | |