by Carlos Chavez in 1948, when he began teaching classes in painting at the Fine Arts Center in Colorado Spring. He then taught in San Diego and then back in Mexico City, counting artists such as Lucinda Urrusti, Susan Sollins, and Gerardo López Bonilla among his students. Martínez’s first recognition for his work was the Raúl Beillers Prize in 1967, followed by the Moinho Santista Prize at the Sao Paulo Biennial in 1971. He was named a member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana In 1993, the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes named him an Artist Emeritus and his had a major retrospective and homage at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in 1994. In 2008, the Mexican capital awarded him the Medalla de la Ciudad de México and named him a distinguished citizen. After his death, there was a retrospective of his work at the Museo de la Ciudad de México in 2012, the same year that the Ricardo Martínez Cultural Center was established in the former Variedades cinema on Avenida Juárez in the historic center of Mexico City. Artistry Martínez was a figurative painter, who incorporation the various artistic tendencies that existed during his lifetime, but was not a follower of any. Because Martínez was self-demanding and not anxious to begin showing his work, he took time to develop his techniques in color and composition, giving his early works maturity. These works were still lifes, landscapes, and depictions of indigenous people and children, often with nationalistic elements. This shows the influence of Mexican muralism, mostly through his associations with Juan Soriano, Jesús Guerrero Galván and later Federico Cantú. However, Martínez never copied the style of the muralists and early began experimenting with different techniques such as tempera, gouache and watercolors, as well as stylistic elements from Surrealism and non-narrative figurative works. This moved him into the category of the Generación de la Ruptura although he never openly opposed the work of the Mexican muralism movement. His work from the 1940s into the 1950s, shows influence from surrealism. By the end of the 1960s, his work was characterized by the inclusion of unreal atmospheres which consisted of interplay of light and color concentrations. His figures show influence from pre Hispanic art, especially figures, simplifying them and giving them a sculpted quality. These figures were often oversized and or sensual nudes. His years of pictorial research of