Charles James Martin (artist)
Encyclopedia
'Charles James Martin was an American modernist
artist and
arts instructor. He worked in a variety of media including etching, lithography, water
color, monotype, linocut, woodcut, oil, photography, mezzotint and silversmithing. Born
in Mansfield, England in 1886, Martin emigrated to the USA as a boy and lived out the
remainder of his life as an American. He studied art under Arthur Wesley Dow
at Dow’s
Ipswich
Summer School of Art as well as at Columbia University Teachers College, where
he became an instructor himself in 1914.
Martin attained professorship at Teachers College in 1923 and continued his work there
into the 1940s. Georgia O’Keeffe attended Martin’s class at Teachers college in 1914-15, where she met Anita Pollitzer
. O’Keeffe considered Martin’s instruction significant
enough that she continued sending examples of her work for his critique in the period
after she attended his class. Martin even
had a fan in Winston Churchill
, as a friend of his writes in a letter circa 1930s:
In the 1910s, Martin also studied photography with Clarence H. White at Teachers
College, and became an instructor at White’s School of Photography in 1918. Also in
1918, Martin won first prize in a photography contest held by Columbia University in
which Dow and White were judges. During this time period, he also served on the Executive Committee of the Pictorial Photographers of America http://www.ppa-photoclub.org/.
Martin spent many summers in the 1920s-50s living and teaching plein air art classes
in Provincetown, Mass, and also in Mexico
. Martin continued working as an art
instructor, often on a freelance basis, for the remainder of his life. He died on August 9, 1955 in Hyannis, MA, after a short illness. He is buried at North Burial Ground
, Providence, Rhode Island
.
eventually married. Upton was the niece of Clifford B. Upton and Siegried M. Upton,
both prominent instructors at Teachers College and also the affiliated
Horace Mann School
. (Mrs. Upton was also an accomplished photographer who studied with Clarence H.
White.) Charles and Esther lived for a brief time in Paris, France in 1913-14. In 1918
they gave birth to their only child, James Upton "Kimo" Martin (b. May 16, 1918, d. Jan 20, 2007)http://www.myspace.com/kimomartin.
Charles and Esther eventually separated, and spent most of the 1920s onward living
far apart from each other. James spent time living with both of his parents.
He grew up to become an accomplished artist and furniture designer in his own right.
American modernism
American modernism like modernism in general is a trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, and is thus in its essence both progressive and optimistic...
artist and
arts instructor. He worked in a variety of media including etching, lithography, water
color, monotype, linocut, woodcut, oil, photography, mezzotint and silversmithing. Born
in Mansfield, England in 1886, Martin emigrated to the USA as a boy and lived out the
remainder of his life as an American. He studied art under Arthur Wesley Dow
Arthur Wesley Dow
Arthur Wesley Dow was an American painter, printmaker, photographer, and influential arts educator....
at Dow’s
Ipswich
Ipswich, Massachusetts
Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,987 at the 2000 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island...
Summer School of Art as well as at Columbia University Teachers College, where
he became an instructor himself in 1914.
Mr. Martin's work is after the new modernist school, the art that seeks
essence rather than form, interpretation rather than faithful representation. The
results of this first year's training in a type of work so entirely new to Teachers
College students are highly gratifying to Professor Dow. According to Mr. Martin,
modernist painting must be preceded by ordinary symmetrical drawing by the student. In
other words, rules must be learned before they can be departed from. The exhibit
showed, therefore, not only paintings of this new character, but also drawings of the
old style,—symmetrical, detailed, precise. One of the color experiments of particular
interest in this interpretative painting is that of “optical mixtures,” a process by
which the mixing of colors to produce another color, is left to the eye, rather than
mixed on the palette; green foliage, for example, may be represented by intermingling
splotches of blue and yellow. The exhibit showed these modernist studies done in all
mediums, —oil, chalk, tempora, water color.
Martin attained professorship at Teachers College in 1923 and continued his work there
into the 1940s. Georgia O’Keeffe attended Martin’s class at Teachers college in 1914-15, where she met Anita Pollitzer
Anita Pollitzer
Anita Lily Pollitzer was an American photographer.-Early life:Her mother, Clara Guinzburg Pollitzer , was the daughter of an immigrant rabbi from Prague. Her father, Gustave Pollitzer, ran a cotton company at Charleston, South Carolin...
. O’Keeffe considered Martin’s instruction significant
enough that she continued sending examples of her work for his critique in the period
after she attended his class. Martin even
had a fan in Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, as a friend of his writes in a letter circa 1930s:
Wednesday afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Winston Churchill and two sons came in
for tea; both Mr. and Mrs. C. are crazy about sketching and water colors. Mr. C. went
back to [Charles’] picture three times and stood for ages admiring and commenting upon
it- thought the light and shadows perfect and loved the simplicity of the theme. I
always feel so proud to say “our friend Prof. Martin!"
In the 1910s, Martin also studied photography with Clarence H. White at Teachers
College, and became an instructor at White’s School of Photography in 1918. Also in
1918, Martin won first prize in a photography contest held by Columbia University in
which Dow and White were judges. During this time period, he also served on the Executive Committee of the Pictorial Photographers of America http://www.ppa-photoclub.org/.
Martin spent many summers in the 1920s-50s living and teaching plein air art classes
in Provincetown, Mass, and also in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Martin continued working as an art
instructor, often on a freelance basis, for the remainder of his life. He died on August 9, 1955 in Hyannis, MA, after a short illness. He is buried at North Burial Ground
North Burial Ground
The North Burial Ground is a cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island, dating to 1700. Providence had no public burial ground and no Common until the year 1700 because Rhode Island's religious and government institutions were so rigorously kept distinct, dating back to its founding by Roger...
, Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
.
Personal life
At Teachers College, Martin met a fellow art student named Esther L. Upton, whom heeventually married. Upton was the niece of Clifford B. Upton and Siegried M. Upton,
both prominent instructors at Teachers College and also the affiliated
Horace Mann School
Horace Mann School
Horace Mann School is an independent college preparatory school in New York City, New York, United States founded in 1887 known for its rigorous course of studies. Horace Mann is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League, educating students from all across the New York tri-state area from...
. (Mrs. Upton was also an accomplished photographer who studied with Clarence H.
White.) Charles and Esther lived for a brief time in Paris, France in 1913-14. In 1918
they gave birth to their only child, James Upton "Kimo" Martin (b. May 16, 1918, d. Jan 20, 2007)http://www.myspace.com/kimomartin.
Charles and Esther eventually separated, and spent most of the 1920s onward living
far apart from each other. James spent time living with both of his parents.
He grew up to become an accomplished artist and furniture designer in his own right.
Selected Exhibitions and Reviews
- American Water Color Society Exhibition, National Arts Club, 1916
There are two “Interiors” in the exhibition which provide contrast and
text. One shall be nameless[...] The other is a picture by Charles J. Martin in the
alcove. Mr. Martin has approached his subject first of all in the spirit of an artist
with analyses to make. He has taken the haphazard of nature and reduced it to orderly
plan. Or to speak more truly, he has taken the fragment of nature that presented
itself to him at some one moment and recreated it until by virtue of art it became a
whole, an organism, in which every part is essential to the others. He has seen his
room as a pattern in which the black stove with its aggressive pipe is balanced by a
black chair or something, and beautiful bright threads of color run in and out of
large neutral patches of violet and dull yellow. A rug designer would see how handsome
it is. But the artist in this instance has had also a sense of humor and a conscience,
and since his room is a human abode he has analyzed its character and made of his work
a witty and penetrating comment. That is what makes it so difficult to forgive. The
makers of patterns are not all so successful as Mr. Martin.
- Columbia Teachers College, 1916
Mr. Martin's method makes water color a thing to reckon with at a distance, a medium capable of decorative effect. He pays tribute to the peculiar character of the medium, its sparkling idiosyncrasy, by his use of the white outline, which detaches the masses of color from one another, keeping them in one plane as effectively as the black bounding line in favor with one school of modern painters; and which has the advantage of giving the white ground of the paper a chance to play its enlivening part in the general scheme.
- Philadelphia Water Color Exhibition, 1916
- MacDowell Club Sketch Exhibition, 1917
- Pictorial Photographers of America Exhibition, Detroit Museum of Art, January 4–28, 1918 http://www.dalnet.lib.mi.us/greenstone/dia/dmaExhibitions/1918-1.pdf
- Painter-Gravers Of America Exhibition, 1919
- Provincetown Art Association Exhibition, 1927
- Morton Galleries, New York City, 1929
- International Water Color Exhibition, Art Institute of Chicago, May 2 - June 2, 1929 http://www.artic.edu/aic/libraries/pubs/1929/AIC1929IntWtrclr9thAn_comb.pdf
- Provincetown Art Association Exhibition, 1931
- Morton Galleries, New York City, 1931
Charles J. Martin, well known for his freedom from academic restraint
in his method of teaching design, achieves an equally unhampered expression in his
creative work. “The Factory” is a boldly conceived design, especially rich in its use
of resonant blacks. In contrast to the rugged construction of this work is the fluent
character of the “Sand Pit,” where the harmonic tour de force of combining warm and
cold tonalities is skillfully accomplished.
- Morton Galleries, New York City, 1932.
Possibly the most striking paper in the show is the landscape by
Charles Martin. Mr. Martin, a professor of painting at Columbia, has an original and
powerful technique. He achieves architectonic pattern without any important loss in
realism.
- Morton Galleries, New York City, 1933
- Morton Galleries, New York City, 1934
- Delphic Studios, New York City, 1934
- Morton Galleries, New York City, 1936
- Morton Galleries, New York City, 1937
- Morton Galleries, New York City, 1938
- Brooklyn MuseumBrooklyn MuseumThe Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....
Art School, 1949
Selected Teaching CV
- Columbia University Teachers College (1914-1940s)
- Clarence H. White School of Photography (1918-1920s)
- Art Students’ League (early 1920s)
- Textile Guild of the Keramic Society of Greater New York (early 1920s)
- New York High School (1927 seminars for art instructors)
- Evander Childs High School (1927 seminars for art instructors)
- Skidmore CollegeSkidmore CollegeSkidmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,500 students. The college is located in the town of Saratoga Springs, New York State....
(1928)
- University of ChicagoUniversity of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
(1929)
- Eastern Arts Convention, Philadelphia (1940)
- War Veteran’s Art Center, Museum of Modern ArtMuseum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
(1940s)
Selected publications
- Notes On Permanent Painting, a 1924 article for Teachers College Record.
- Creative Design In Painting, a 12 minute 16 mm educational film, 1936. "A demonstration of the organization of lines and areas within a rectangle. The illustration of these design principles is then carried over into the painting of a landscape in watercolor."
- How To Make Modern Jewelryhttp://books.google.com/books?id=OVhQAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_ViewAPI&pgis=1, New York : Museum of Modern Art : distributed by Simon and Schuster, 1949.