Almaraz (Carlos) and Los Four Ephemera collection, 1960-2013

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Summary

Title:
Carlos Almaraz and Los Four ephemera collection
Dates:
1960-2013
Abstract:
Materials compiled by Charles Schermerhorn related to Carlos Almaraz and the Los Four, a Los Angeles-based Chicano artist collective.
Extent:
2.0 Linear Feet (1 half-document box, and 1 flat box)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Carlos Almaraz and Los Four Ephemera collection, CEMA 111. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains materials collected by Charles Schermerhorn in relation to Carlos Almaraz and the Los Four.

Materials related to Los Four include exhibition promotional materials and posters, correspondence, and artwork. Materials related to Almaraz include photographs, personal biographical materials, and obituaries written in his honor.

Biographical / historical:

Carlos Almaraz (October 5, 1941-December 11, 1989) was a Mexican-American artist involved in the Chicano Arts Movement in the early 1970s. Born in Mexico City, Mexico and raised in the Los Angeles area of California, Almaraz studied art for varying lengths of time at Los Angeles City College under David Ramirez, at Loyola Marymount University, and at California State University, Los Angeles. In 1974, he earned an MFA degree from Otis Art Institute, now the Otis College of Art and Design.

Carlos Almaraz - along with Frank Romero, Robert de la Rocha, and Gilbert Luján - was a founding member of Los Four, a group of artists active in the Los Angeles Chicano Art Movement in the early 1970s. They broke into the mainstream art world with the first significant Chicano exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA), Los Four: Almaraz, de la Rocha, Lujan, Romero, in 1974. Shortly after this exhibition, Judithe Hernández also joined the group, who Almaraz had met while studying at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. Outside of their group and individual exhibitions, the members of Los Four are responsible for many of the most well-known murals around Los Angeles and individually received major public art commissions from Los Angeles County.

Almaraz's later works focused more on the development of his personal identity - as a Chicano, as a queer man, as a community organizer, and as an artist - and he gained international and commercial notice outside of his work with Los Four. In 1981, Almaraz married fellow artist Elsa Flores. Together, they collaborated on the "California Dreamscape" mural in Los Angeles. He died of AIDS related complications in 1989, at the age of 48.

Acquisition information:
Donated by Charles Schermerhorn on July 9, 2007
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid created by Callie Bowdish, 2013. Finding aid updated by Rebecca Vasquez, April 2026.
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-04-08 10:35:40 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and may be retained by the creator and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.

All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@library.ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or their assignees for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Carlos Almaraz and Los Four Ephemera collection, CEMA 111. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:
UC Santa Barbara Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
Contact:
(805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
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