The Canasta de Flores, is a 5’x 6’ ft. still life fresco by Alfredo Martinez Ramos and was originally painted in the La Avenida restaurant’s cocktail lounge. This mural was purchased by the Coronado Friends of the Library and is sited in the Public Library main corridor. The artist, Alfredo Ramos Martinez, was a Mexican muralist who had studied art in Paris during the early 20th century. Martinez directed the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and launched an open-air school of painting. His work is strongly influenced by the indigenous art themes of Mexico. In 1929, the Martinez family traveled to the U.S. and eventually settled in Los Angeles in 1930, where Ramos Martinez reestablished his reputation by painting murals for members of the Hollywood film community, including Alfred Hitchcock. Eventually, he was commissioned to paint the two murals for La Avenida Cafe in Coronado: El Dia del Mercado and Canasta de Flores, in addition to two other murals that no longer exist. The La Avenida Cafe murals in Coronado are considered some of Ramos Martinez’s major works,” says Christian Esquevin, Director of the Coronado Library, in his informative booklet about the paintings. “[The murals were] executed during his full maturity and using his favored themes and subjects, such as fruits, flowers, rural Mexico, and women going to market, depicted at a time now long gone.” La Avenida Cafe was originally built in 1938 at 1301 Orange Ave, where the restaurant Bistro d’Asia is currently located. Alfredo Ramos Martinez Website: https://www.alfredoramosmartinez.com
