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Alexandre-Louis MartinFramed En Grisaille Self Portrait Three-Quarter Nude Torso Heroic Pose Ca 1925
$3,696.92
£2,695
€3,157.22
CA$5,192.50
A$5,716.56
CHF 2,921.75
MX$68,228.66
NOK 37,200.05
SEK 34,810.96
DKK 23,582.60
About the Item
Alexandre-Louis Martin.
Belgian ( b.1887 - d.1954 ).
Self-Portrait Of The Artist.
Oil On Canvas.
Signed On The Reverse Of The Canvas.
Image size 22.4 inches x 16.9 inches ( 57cm x 43cm ).
Frame size 29.7 inches x 24.4 inches ( 75.5cm x 62cm ).
Available for sale, this original self-portrait oil painting is of and by the Belgian artist Alexandre-Louis Martin and dates from around 1925.
The painting is presented and supplied in its original frame (which is shown in these photographs).
The joints of the frame have been re-mitred, secured and reinforced with braces.
The canvas and the painted surface have both benefitted from cleaning and conservation, which was performed on our instruction, supervision and approval. The canvas stretcher has been re-tensioned.
This antique painting is in a good condition. It wants for nothing and is supplied ready to hang and display.
The painting is signed on the reverse of the canvas.
Louis-Alexandre (Alexandre-Louis) Martin was born on 2nd May 1887 in Carnières, Belgium. His family was working-class and very poor. His father, Alexandre Martin, was a miner in the St-Eloi coal mines, and his mother, Aurélia Hainaut, ran a small canteen frequented by miners. He was one of ten children, several of whom died in infancy. His childhood was marked by hardship, including poverty, bereavement and illness, and the rough life of the mining community in the Borinage region very much shaped his sensibilities.
From a young age, Martin showed a talent for drawing, often doing portraits for local miners and others in his neighbourhood. A mining engineer, Mr Poncin at St-Eloi, noticed one of his early works and encouraged his family to let him study art; this led to his admission to the Académie de Mons, where he began his formal art training around 1900. He developed strong drawing skills under the tutelage of local teachers, with the academic emphasis on draughtsmanship. Later he studied in Antwerp and Brussels, including with Joseph Delville.
In about 1908, upon reaching legal adulthood, he went to Paris, where he worked in photographic retouching, hoping to immerse himself in the art world. However, he returned to Belgium not long after, perhaps because the Parisian environment was not as supportive or as fruitful for him as he had hoped.
Martin won early recognition in academies: in Brussels in 1912, he gained a first grand prix in drawing from life or from the antique figure and also had success in Antwerp.
Martin’s art is often described as social-realist portraiture. He painted the working class - miners, metallurgists, mothers, children, elderly of the Borinage with realism, empathy, and detailed drawing.
His works tend to show an emphasis on drawing first: his early training, love of classicism, the influence of Delville and academic traditions show in his strong emphasis on line, form and tonal modelling. Lighting, atmosphere, and contrast were all hallmarks of his work: his early works often had stronger contrasts (shadows vs light) which softened over time. Later in his career Martin painted with more nuance of tone, more subtle transitions, sometimes heavier impasto or “knife painting,” especially after the late 1920s. His portraits often carry psychological depth: not idealised, but honest, occasionally severe, reflecting the hardships of his subjects, perhaps also mirroring his own life.
From 1921 onward Martin regularly exhibited, including at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris. By the late 1920s and early 1930s, he was officially recognized: in 1930 he was made Chevalier de la Couronne in Belgium, and the French awarded him the Médaille d’Officier de l’Instruction Publique. The town of his birth, Carnières, inaugurated a museum devoted to his work in 1938: Musée Martin de Carnières. After World War II, a “Ligue des Amis du Peintre Martin” (Friends of Painter Martin) was formed to support his legacy.
In his later years Martin faced health problems; in 1953 he underwent serious surgery and his health declined. Nevertheless he continued working, often in sanguine (red chalk) drawings, and some of his later works explore different techniques (more impasto, alternate modes) even if his prevailing style remained representational and rooted in realistic portraiture.
He died in 1954 in Couillet, aged 66, without heirs.
Martin is often described as a somewhat solitary figure: though acknowledged and honoured, he seems to have maintained a sense of distance from the art world, a sensitivity bordering on melancholy. He is quoted (towards the end of his life) as believing that his art was the only real thing in his life, that “when I work I live; outside of that I hardly exist.”
For Martin, art was more than profession — it was a struggle, a means of survival, and a way to redeem the harshness of his environment. His depictions of miners, mothers, the elderly are not just social commentary but expressions of empathy, of shared suffering. He bridges between social realism and a kind of poetic restraint. He rooted himself in his native region’s people and conditions; his strong drawing discipline, his commitment to humanity of subject, places him among significant Belgian painters of the early to mid-20th century who gave voice to “ordinary people.”
© Big Sky Fine Art
Belgian painter Alexandre-Louis Martin was born in Carnières to a mining family and trained at the Académie de Mons before continuing his studies in Antwerp, Brussels, and briefly Paris. Deeply influenced by the working-class life of the Borinage, he became known for his empathetic portraits of miners, metallurgists, mothers, and the elderly. His style combined academic draughtsmanship with a social-realist sensitivity, often marked by strong tonal contrasts and psychological intensity. Martin exhibited regularly from the 1920s, earning honours in Belgium and France, and his hometown established a museum dedicated to his work in 1938. He died in Couillet in 1954.
- Creator:Alexandre-Louis Martin (1887 - 1954, Belgian)
- Dimensions:Height: 29.73 in (75.5 cm)Width: 24.41 in (62 cm)Depth: 3.15 in (8 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:The joints of the frame have been re-mitred & reinforced with braces. The canvas & the painted surface have both benefitted from cleaning & conservation. This antique painting is in good condition. It wants for nothing & is supplied ready to hang.
- Gallery Location:Sutton Poyntz, GB
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU489317080612
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Available for sale; this academic life drawing of a male nude is by the French artist Henry Arthur Roberts and dates from the early 1840s.
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Henry Arthur Roberts was a recognised French artist, notable for his portraits and paintings of religious subjects. Born in Paris in 1819, he was the son of British watercolour artist James Roberts, himself active in Paris from 1819 -1846. Henry became a student of his father.
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Available for sale; this academic life drawing of a male nude is by the French artist Henry Arthur Roberts and dates from the early 1840s.
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This antique drawing is in good condition, commensurate with its age. It is in an untouched condition having never been restored. The paper has handling marks, some light surface dirt, the odd foxing mark and general age toning. The overall patina adds to the aesthetic and is supplied ready to hang and display.
The drawing is not signed but came from a portfolio of drawings by Henry Arthur Roberts.
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$740 Sale Price
46% Off