Henri-André Martin

French Modernist, large Abstract view of Les Alpilles mountains, Provence

1993

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...

One of several paintings that we are offering by Henri-André Martin's. A wonderfully evocative image of an expansive beach with figures relaxing on a beach in the South of France, pa...

A wonderful example of a Barbizon inspired landscape painted by the "Catford Corot" from the late 19th Century. This picturesque view has the typical Barbizon elements with a shepherdess and her flock at the edge of a forest. Beautifully presented in a good quality hardwood frame - a very atmospheric piece in ready to hang condition. George Boyle (1842-1930) A shepherdess and her flock at the edge of a forest Signed Oil on canvas 15 x 18 inches without the frame 22 x 25 inches with the frame George Boyle is perhaps the best known English painter inspired by the Barbizon School. In fact he is known as the "Catford Corot" as his paintings have such a close resemblance to the school's main exponent, Jean Baptiste Camille Corot. The "Catford" element of this nickname corresponds to the area near Greenwich...

A really striking image of birds in flight at the edge of the sea, capturing the spectrum of wonderful blues in the sea and sky. Adrian Parnell (b.1952) Seabirds Signed with initial...

Contemporary Impressionist pastel of a Provençal landscape by Belgian artist Francis Besson. Signed to the very bottom right. A whirl of colours and floral designs shape this gorge...

A French Impressionist Fauvist Color-Field pastel on fine quality 'Canson' paper landscape by G Ricard. The painting is signed bottom right. A charming and characteristic south of ...

A French Impressionist Fauvist Color-Field watercolour on clay paper landscape by G Ricard. The painting is signed bottom left and painted on the reverse of an exhibition poster for ...

A French Expressionist oil on canvas landscape of countryside at L'Olivette, Cap d'Antibes on the French Riviera, by Germain Bonel. The painting is signed bottom right and signed, dated and titled to the back of the canvas. A strong and impactful composition of the trees and forest leading down to the sea wall and then the Mediterranean beyond at the Port (or 'Abri' as it is also known) of l'Olivette on the west coast of Cap d'Antibes, the iconic location in the South of France. This former small traditional fishing port from the beginning of the twentieth century is now converted into a picturesque little marina on Cap d'Antibes, with its rocky cove, its beach, its pine forest, its umbrella pines, olive trees, fig trees, and agaves and its famous 'Villa Aujourd'hui' a modernist residence built by American architect Barry Dierks (1899-1960) in 1938 for socialite Mrs. Audrey Chadwick. L'Olivette has a privileged panoramic view of the Gulf of Juan, and the coastal shores of Cap d'Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, Golfe-Juan, and the Pointe Croisette of Cannes. Germain Bonel (5 August 1913 – 2002) was a French painter of Catalan origin. From 1967 to 1983, he was a professor of drawing and painting at the Perpignan School of Fine Arts. From 1969 to 1978, he also taught art in the schools of Saint-Cyprien-village and Saint-Cyprien-Plage. Germain Bonel's painting is both expressionist and decorative. Georges-Henry Gourrier said of him: "Germain Bonel's painting expresses [quite naturally] the singular beauty of forms, the radiant force of colour, the deepening of matter and the tenderness of the things of life. His work appears to be a painting of plenitude." From 1941 to 1945, Germain Bonel studied drawing at the Municipal School of Fine Arts in Perpignan. He won first prize in 1945. Out of competition, he continued his studies at the same school from 1945 to 1948 and he regularly exhibited his works at the annual exhibition held at the Salle Arago in Perpignan. Germain Bonel met François Desnoyer in 1950 and introduced him to the Catalan artistic milieu. He was admitted to the Salon d'Automne in Paris in 1951 and exhibited until 1961, when he became a member of the salon. As early as 1951 a commentary said, "with the canvas hanging...