Henri Jean Guillaume Martin Original Vintage Antique French Impressionist Landscape European Oil Painting

Original vintage antique French Impressionist oil painting of a barn in a landscape, by Henri- Jean Guillaume Martin, (1860-1943).  

Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin was born in Toulouse, France in 1860. He studied art formally under Jules Garipuy at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse and while there he also studied with Eugene Delacroix. In 1879 Martin moved to Paris and worked in the studio of Jean-Paul Laurens. He received his first medal at the Paris Salon in 1883 at the age of 23 and went on to hold his first exhibition there three years later. 

In the early years of his career, Martin was awarded a scholarship which took him to Italy. This journey was to have a profound effect on his artistic development. Before visiting Italy, Martin's early style was largely based upon a classical, cold, and correct technique that focused on the idealized historical characters and events popularized by the Paris Salon. In Italy however, Martin discovered the beauty of color and light, both in nature and in the works of the great masters, such as Giotto and Masaccio. Inspired by what he saw he abandoned the academic style of his earlier works and adopted a style that utilized radically short brush strokes and divided the picture into a mass of small and visible strokes. In many ways, this technique was reminiscent of the works of Georges Seurat. 

Back in Paris, Martin received the gold medal at the Salon in 1889 and became a member of the Legion of Honour. He painted some unusually large pictures for the Neo-impressionists and won great acclaim when he exhibited them at a one-man show at the Mancini Gallery in 1895. Furthermore, he won the Grand Prize at the World Fair in 1900. As the prestige and popularity of Henri Martin grew, he was commissioned to paint some important murals for the city hall in Paris in 1895, and for the Capitol in Toulouse in 1903-1906. During this busy period in his career, Martin also became good friends with the sculptor Auguste Rodin.

Though a well-established and commended artist, Martin remained shy and introverted throughout his life, even refusing contracts from many successful Parisian dealers. By the turn of the century, he found that he no longer enjoyed living in Paris and began searching for an ideal home elsewhere. Eventually, he bought a mansion overlooking La Bastide du Vert, near Cahors. In this relaxed and tranquil setting, Martin began painting the countryside around his home almost exclusively and found a style and technique with which he was comfortable. The colorful and light-filled canvases he produced at this time are widely considered to be amongst his most successful works. Henri Martin's painting changed very little from this time onwards and he continued to paint the environs around his home until he died in 1943. 

Ref: http://www.alonzakaim.com/artists/martin_henri/


Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin

(1860-1943)

French Impressionist

Landscape, Barn

Age is estimated at approximately 1914

Signed lower left corner. "Henri" is also visible, to the right. 

Painting alone measures approximately 7 1/4" X 10 1/4"

In frame, the painting measures approximately 10" X 13"

The painting is in good overall condition. A tiny chip of paint was restored; smaller than the size of a pencil eraser, to the lower left. All other paint is original to the painting. There are some vertical lines of light cracks of missing paint, to the far right side, as shown, and there are a couple of flaws to the left; (small dot of missing paint). Please review all images. The painting is on canvas and is not stretched, or glued to the backboard. The old canvas has very minor waves and may need to be set, to be perfect. 
The painting is still housed in the original 1920s French gold gilt frame, which is in excellent original condition, with the original framer's gallery label on the reverse: 

J Barriere
10,
Avene de la Gare
Telephone 13-47
Perpignan

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