Homer Dodge Martin (October 28, 1836 – February 12, 1897) was an American artist, particularly known for his landscape paintings. Examples of Martin's work are in many important American museums.

Biography

Martin was born in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Cit ...

on October 28, 1836, the fourth and youngest son of Homer Martin and Sarah Dodge. A pupil for a short time of William Hart, his earlier work was closely aligned with the

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area ...

. Other Albany painters of his acquaintance included George Boughton, and Edward Gay. During the 1860s he spent the summers in the

Adirondacks The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

and White Mountains, and painted landscapes from the sketches he made there at his studio in New York City's

Tenth Street Studio Building The Tenth Street Studio Building, constructed in New York City in 1857, was the first modern facility designed solely to serve the needs of artists. It became the center of the New York art world for the remainder of the 19th century. Situated at ...

. On June 25, 1861 he married Elizabeth Gilbert Davis, also of Albany. Martin was elected as associate of the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the ...

, New York, in 1868, and a full academician in 1874. During a trip to Europe in 1876, he was captivated by the

Barbizon school The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name ...

and the

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passag ...

s, and thereafter his painting style gradually became darker, moodier, and more loosely brushed. From 1882 to 1886, he lived in France, spending much of the time in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, including stays at the Etaples art colony. His work there included a topographical view of the harbor in which a wooden-hulled ship is being built in the distance and a steam ship is seen moored on the quays. The rather more atmospheric ''Cottage in the Forest'' captures the effect of the parting sun on the dune landscape. At

Villerville Villerville () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. the commune is located towards the eastern end of the coastline called the Côte Fleurie (Flowery Coast). Composer Francis Bayer (1938–20 ...

on the Seine, he painted his celebrated ''Harp of the Winds'', now at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

. By 1887 Martin had returned to New York City. In 1893, poverty and poor health induced him to relocate to

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

, where he had relatives.Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), Feld, S. P., Gardner, A. T. E., Spassky, N., & Luhrs, K. (1965). ''American Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Volumes 1-2''. New York. p. 421. . There, nearly blind, he painted one of his best-known works, ''Adirondack Scenery'' (1895) from memory. He died on February 12, 1897, in St. Paul. Although never successful within his lifetime, within two years of his death ''Adirondack Scenery'' sold for $5500 and ''Harp of the Winds'' (1895) was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Collections

As well as being represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Martin's paintings can be found in the collections of other important American museums including the

Addison Gallery of American Art The Addison Gallery of American Art is an academic museum dedicated to collecting American art, organized as a department of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. History Directors of the gallery include Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr. (1940– ...

, the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds ...

, the

Albany Institute of History and Art The Albany Institute of History & Art (AIHA) is a museum in Albany, New York, United States, "dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting and promoting interest in the history, art, and culture of Albany and the Upper Hudson Valley region". ...

, the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

, the

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the US. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum bec ...

, and the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

Gallery

File:The_Iron_Mine_-_Homer_Dodge_Martin_-_Smithsonian_American_Art_Museum.jpg, '' The Iron Mine, Port Henry, New York'', (1862) oil on canvas mounted on fiberboard, in the

File:EveningThamesHDMartin.jpg, ''Evening on the Thames'' (c. 1876) File:Brooklyn Museum - Effect of Trees - Homer Dodge Martin - overall.jpg, ''Effect of Trees'' (Between 1876 and 1882) File:Martin Harbour.jpg, ''The harbour at Étaples'' (1884)

References

External links

*
''View on the Seine: Harp of the Winds''
Metropolitan Museum of Art Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Homer Dodge 1836 births 1897 deaths 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters American landscape painters Artists from Albany, New York Painters from New York (state) National Academy of Design members Hudson River School painters

Biography

Collections

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links