Henri Jean Guillaume Martin

David Finlay Gallery, New York
Vente : Christie's, New York, 5 octobre 1989, lot 19
Vente : Cornette de Saint-Cyr, Paris, 24 octobre 1991, lot 20
Collection particulière, Lot (acquis lors de cette vente)
Par descendance au propriétaire actuel

The canvas is not lined. Under UV light, only one dot of retouching located in the lower right corner fluoresces. The work is in very good original condition.
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signed 'Henri Martin' (lower right); oil on canvas. Painted circa 1930.

Selon le petit fils de l’artiste, ce tableau représente une vue du Vert, un ruisseau près de la Bastide du Vert, le village dans le département du Lot où  Henri Martin possédait depuis 1899 sa fameuse maison de Marquaroyl dans laquelle il séjournait  de mai à novembre. Conscient de l’existence des grandes séries des peupliers de Claude Monet, peints de l’été à l’automne 1891, Henri Martin reprend ce "grand classique" de l’impressionnisme mais le traite à travers son propre vocabulaire formel. Il utilise une technique héritée des néo-impressionnistes mais qui très vite diverge de la doctrine des fondateurs, tels Paul Signac, pour trouver son propre langage pictural.  

A la technique néo-impressionniste il intègre des éléments stylistiques du symbolisme, mouvement qu’il avait côtoyé à ses débuts. Le résultat est un paysage où la touche pointilliste élargie capte la lumière automnale reflétée par les arbres et le cours d’eau, mais dont se dégage aussi cette atmosphère évanescente et presque mystérieuse qui caractérise les chefs d’œuvres du peintre.

Il est difficile de dater avec précision les œuvres d’Henri Martin, puisqu'il avait pour habitude de ne signer les tableaux qu’une fois ceux-ci vendus et parfois longtemps après qu’ils aient été peints. En outre, il pouvait passer plusieurs années à revenir sur une même œuvre. Toutefois, selon le certificat de Cyrille Martin, cette œuvre peut être datée vers 1930. Elle compte parmi les plus réussies de la séries des peupliers.

According to the artist’s grandson, this painting represented a view of Vert, a stream near the Bastide du Vert, a village in the Lot region of France where Henri Martin purchased his famous Marquaroyl house in 1899 in which he stayed from May to November. Aware of Claude Monet’s series of poplar trees, painted from the summer to the autumn of 1891, Henri Martin reworked this “great classic” of Impressionism by representing it with his own formal vocabulary. He used a technique inherited from neo-impressionism but quickly diverged from the doctrine of the founders, such as Paul Signac, to find his own pictorial language.

He integrated into the neo-impressionist technique stylistic elements from symbolism, a movement he rubbed shoulders with at the start of his career. The result is a landscape painted in enlarged, pointillist strokes that capture the autumnal light reflected by the trees and the running water. An evanescent and almost mysterious atmosphere, characteristic of the painter’s masterpieces, arises from the painting.

It is difficult to date Henri Martin’s works precisely as he had the habit of only signing his works once they had been sold and sometimes a long time after they had been painted. Moreover, he could spend several years on the same work. However, according to Cyrille Martin’s certificate, this work can be dated around 1930. It is one of his most accomplished paintings from the poplar tree series.