Jean Martin
Female nude, circa 1940, pencil on paper
circa 1940

About the Item

Jean MARTIN (1911-1996) Female nude, circa 1940 Pencil on paper Signed on the left 25 x 38 cm frame : 40 x 50 cm A self-taught painter born in Lyon in 1911, Jean Martin developed a style of reality painting on the bangs of the debates surrounding the realism quarrel. He exhibited for the first time at the Salon d'Automne in 1933, at the Salon du Sud-Est (Lyon) the following year, and at the Salon des Indépendants from 1935. Jean Martin's pictorial style is marked by the influence of the 16th-century German masters in the wake of Matthias Grünewald, Lucas Cranach and Albrecht Dürer, whose work he observed at length thanks to reproductions of works he kept religiously. He was also strongly influenced by contemporary Flemish Expressionism. The Laethem-Saint-Martin School, discovered in 1927 during the L'Art belge exhibition at the Musée des beaux-arts de Grenoble, was a real visual shock for the artist, and particularly influenced his painting in the 1930s. In 1933, Jean Martin befriended gallery owner Marcel Michaud, who was to be a great support to him. Both men shared the ambition of a social art nourished by the conquests of the Front Populaire. The following year, his meeting with Henri Héraut, art critic and founder of the Forces Nouvelles group, also proved decisive. In 1938, Jean Martin exhibited at the Billiet-Vorms gallery in Paris for the group's final show, alongside Georges Rohner, Jean Lasne, Henri Jannot and Robert Humblot. He presented his masterpiece, Les Aveugles (1937), now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon. In particular, these artists disapproved of the systematic distortion of nature. In 1940, the artist's interest in books and publishing led him to collaborate with Marc Barbezat in the creation of the avant-garde magazine L'Arbalète, for which he designed the first cover. After the war, Jean Martin left Lyon for Paris, where he contributed to the revival of the performing arts. He worked alongside major figures in French theater, for whom he created numerous sets and costumes, sometimes in collaboration with Jean Bertholle, Christian Bérard and Pablo Picasso. In the early 1950s, he founded the Art et tradition chrétienne gallery, playing an active role in the revival of sacred art. The sharp, chiseling lines marking the model's contours are reminiscent of the graphic work of Georges Rohner and his boldly framed nudes.

Creator:

Jean Martin (1906 - 1986, American)

Creation Year:

circa 1940

Dimensions:

Height: 9.85 in (25 cm)Width: 14.97 in (38 cm)

Medium:

Pencil

Period:

Early 20th Century

Condition:

Gallery Location: