The olive trees of the Alpilles

ALPILLES LANDSCAPE

ARTIST: Henri André MARTIN
TECHNIQUE : Oil on canvas
PERIOD: 20th century
DIMENSIONS without frame: 92 x 85 cm
DIMENSIONS with frame: 98 x 91 cm oak frame (American crate)
EXEMPLAIRE : Original work signed lower right
Sold with frame
Henri-André Martin (1918-2004) painted landscapes, still lifes and pointillist nudes throughout his life. Trained alongside Joseph Lamberton and Henri Grosjean, then at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, the artist followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a doctor in Lyon, where he practiced for the rest of his career. But this didn't stop him from devoting his spare time to his passion, painting, through which he tackled the themes that are dear to him. A practice to which he devoted himself fully on his retirement in 1985. An art enthusiast, he also collected the works of his contemporaries, buying mainly from the Malaval gallery in Lyon, owned by his partner, and becoming a patron of artists such as Joseph Alessandri, Pierre Pelloux and Jacques Truphémus.
Henri-André Martin had the opportunity to travel both in France and abroad. He used these opportunities to paint a wide range of landscapes, from the beaches of Saint-Tropez and Deauville, to the streets of Lyon, Paris, Venice and the Nîmes train station. The artist reveals the sites of Lyon that are dear to his heart, showing the Saône, Fourvière and the Parc de la tête d'or, before taking on the capital's most emblematic monuments, from the Sacré-Coeur to Notre-Dame.
As a medical doctor, Henri-André Martin is always researching, and works in an almost scientific manner. When he tackles a theme such as the nude, he multiplies tests, techniques and colors, deepening his subject through serial work. The nude is treated in pencil, pastel or oil, and blossoms from sketches to large pointillist formats. Similarly, religious subjects were a pretext for the painter's chromatic and technical experimentation, with the crown of Christ's thorns depicted in several colors and formats. From the 1980s onwards, this research moved towards working with matter, in increasingly abstract canvases. The landscapes of the Alpilles and the trees, particularly the olive trees, blossom in compositions halfway between abstraction and figuration.
*This work is sold as is, and as a second-hand item, the buyer accepts that it may show signs of use, wear, fragility, age or restoration due to the passage of time.

Ref: TI9SQUK8W5