Henri-André Martin

French Modernist, Beautiful Summer Swallowtail Butterfly

1996

An incredibly striking image of a white butterfly set against a background of yellow petals. Painted with great energy and with a most appealing texture to the paint surface. This lo...

An incredibly striking image of a black and yellow butterfly. Painted with great energy and style. This looks stunning against a white wall. Henri-André Martin (1918-2004) A Swallowtail butterfly Signed Oil on canvas 23½ x 23½ inches excluding frame 26½ x 26½ inches including frame Provenance: The artist's studio sale Born in Lyon in 1918, Henri-André Martin spent his youth in Saint-Étienne. Following his father into the medical profession, he spent his first years studying medicine in Lyon, but also enrolled in the École de Beaux Arts during this time. Upon returning from captivity in 1942, Martin soon became director of the otolaryngology clinic at Édouard-Herriot hospital. Painting, however, remained his true calling in life - it was, to him, an invaluable form of self-expression. Reserved and extremely modest, and frequently regarded as somewhat aloof, art was a means of articulating his anxieties and apprehensions, as well as giving a voice to his inner child. Martin had a brush in hand at all times, wherever he went, and painted countless gouaches of varying sizes. His beach paintings in particular have been compared to those of Boudin. Until the 1970s, Martin had a tendency to paint ‘on the ground’, yet in all of his paintings, there is a distinct sense of distance and removal from the subject-matter. In the years that followed, we see a development in this simplification and abstraction of the subject-matter, as seen, for example, in his images of almond trees standing alone against the stark winter sky of Provence. The palette begins to darken, his work acquires a feeling of gravity, as his paintings of Hamburg Port evidently reflect. His collection entitled ‘Trunks’, six lithographic plates, draws on visual and written material in the book, L’Olivier. His interest in the symbolism of the olive tree subsequently grew, and he turned to literature, painting and historical traditions to develop and nuance his understanding of its allegorical value. This fascination with the olive tree, and more broadly, with the nature of symbolism, came to profoundly inform his later work. What he learnt to represent was not merely the physical reality of his subjects, but their implicit interconnection with abstract ideas. As René Déroudille writes, the lithographic plates are ‘especially devoted to and embrace renewal’, revealing an artist who is in ‘full mutation’. In the 1980s, Martin’s work took a more explicit turn towards abstraction. It was during this time that he produced a series of large nudes, which he entered into the major exhibition at L’Atrium in Lyon, in 1992. In the years that followed, Martin focused on animating the shapes and forms born of his imagination, eventually accomplishing this and changing his focus once again, turning to more attractive, even decorative subjects, like Japanese...

An incredibly striking image of a Red Admiral butterfly set against a background of petals. Painted with great energy and with a most appealing texture to the paint surface. Looks re...

An incredibly striking image of a white butterfly set against a background of yellow petals. Painted with great energy and with a most appealing texture to the paint surface. This lo...

A wonderful image of an English country cottage set in a meadow with cattle grazing. Franklin White (1892-1975) A cottage in the countryside Signed with initials and dated (19)32 Oi...

A super example of Harry Fidler's impressionist studies with characteristic use of heavy impasto. The flamboyant sculpting of the paint surface cannot be fully conveyed in a 2D image...

Caterwaul by Orovida Pissarro (1893-1968) Oil on canvas 51 x 61 cm (20 ¹/₈ x 24 inches) Provenance Estate of the artist With John Bensusan-Butt, cousin of the artist G Hassell, 25th...

*UK BUYERS WILL PAY AN ADDITIONAL 20% VAT ON TOP OF THE ABOVE PRICE Migrating horses by Orovida Pissarro (1893-1968) Oil on canvas 71.1 x 81.4 cm (28 x 32 inches) Signed and dated l...

*UK BUYERS WILL PAY AN ADDITIONAL 20% VAT ON TOP OF THE ABOVE PRICE Father, Daughter and Horse by Orovida Pissarro (1893-1968) Oil on canvas 60 x 73 cm (23 ⅝ x 28 ¾ inches) Signed a...

The Cattery by Orovida Pissarro (1893-1968) Oil and pencil on canvas 61 x 51 cm (24 x 20 ⅛ inches) Signed and dated upper right Orovida 1964 Provenance Estate of the artist G Hassel...

*ABOUT Stephen Basso Stephen Basso's highly original pastels and oil paintings are romantic, yet thought provoking fantasies. His whimsical works are alive with boundless imagina...

David Konigsberg was born in Warren PA and lives and works in Brooklyn NY. His rural and urban experience play out in a love for both landscape and conceptual narrative, genres he of...