Henri Martin

Galleria Acquavella, Caracas
Private Collection (acquired from the above circa the 1970s)
Thence by descent

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, International Exhibition, 1928-29, no. 197
Chicago, Art Institute, European Paintings from Carnegie International Exhibition, 1929, no. 49

This work is in excellent condition. Canvas is unlined. Colors are bright and fresh. Impasto is lively and well preserved. Once pinhole at bottom edge near center. Two tiny black-colored scuffs at the extreme top edge near upper left corner. Under UV light, no inpainting is apparent.
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In 1923 Henri Martin settled in Collioure, a quiet fishing village nestled in the foothills of the Pyrenees near the Spanish border. Collioure’s remote location and serene atmosphere, unaffected by industrialization, appealed to both the Fauves and the Post-Impressionists. As early as 1905, Henri Matisse, Paul Signac and Andre Derain had fallen in love with the splendor and leisurely charm of Collioure, and all three incorporated scenes of the town in their early Fauve paintings. Martin purchased a home there, and during its renovation he rented a studio that overlooked the port depicted in this composition, a scene which he reiterated in some of his most successful paintings of this time.

Collioures de Faubourg (Le Port en fin de journée) depicts a sunny, peaceful view of the waterfront. All aspects of the composition—from the carefully modulated palette to dappling of light to the geometric shapes in the background landscape—form a pictorial harmony that showcases Martin’s sheer talent, not to mention the inspiration he drew from Signac and Seurat, underscored by his staccato brushwork. Jacques Martin-Ferrières, the artist's son, writes, "Henri Martin was without contest an Impressionist and one who had the deepest sensitiveness, certainly equal to that of Monet, whom he most admired. Their interpretation of nature is certainly owing to their utmost sensitiveness and not through research of a technical process, a poetical evocation hued by a thousand colors which can undoubtedly be called a work of art" (Jacques Martin-Ferrières, Henri Martin, Paris, 1967, p. 35).