Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin

A Famous French Neo-Impressionist, Pointillist, Symbolist.

He worked in the genres of landscape, portrait and monumental painting. Although the works of Henri Martin as a Neo-impressionist are not considered to be fundamental ones, they were successful and deservedly entered the world classic painting. The master repeatedly won medals at the Paris and World exhibitions, was awarded the Grand Prix. In the town where the artist lived for several decades, there is the Henri Martin Museum; his paintings are presented at the exhibitions of art museums and galleries of not only many cities of France, but also in the USA (Chicago, New York), Japan, Germany, etc.

Key ideas:

– Leaving Academicism, from which he began his creative activity, H. Martin began to paint in the styles of Pointillism and Divisionism. However, his technique differed from fairly rigid canons set by the theory. It consisted in a more relaxed and easy manner, the brush strokes of his brush are short and wide; they are separated from each other and are mostly parallel. In almost perfect chromatism, the shapes of the details were created; the light and the falling shadows perfectly matched the intended composition.

– Carried away with the search for his own light solutions, the artist mostly chose very bright paints. For instance, bright purple shades are characteristic of his style; they make the paintings decorative. However, some canvases are painted in an almost monochrome gamma of pastel shades and are almost completely devoid of contrasts.

– Basing on the themes and plots characteristic of Symbolism and leaving them, Martin introduced the poetics of mystery into the atmosphere of plot paintings and organized the space in his own way. At the same time, the painter used the spiritualization of forms in both traditional and allegorical forms. The artist chose the latter quite often; those are ancient heroes (for example, “Orpheus in the grove” and “Harmony”), and paintings on biblical stories.

– The most full and complete series of paintings by Henri Martin are those inspired by the landscapes of the Lot region in southern France. The artist’s favorite motive is bridges over water.