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Xavier Timoteo Martínez (February 7, 1869 – January 13, 1943) was a Mexican-born American artist active in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
the late 19th and early 20th century. He was a well-known bohemian figure in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, the
East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Wi ...
, and the
Monterey Peninsula The Monterey Peninsula anchors the northern portion on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California and comprises the cities of Monterey, California, Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, Carmel, and Pacific Grove, California, P ...
and one of the co-founders of two California artists' organizations and an art gallery. He painted in a tonalist style and also produced monotypes,
etchings Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in Intaglio (printmaking), intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may ...
, and
silverpoint Silverpoint (one of several types of metalpoint) is a traditional drawing technique and tool first used by medieval scribes on manuscripts. History A silverpoint drawing is made by dragging a silver rod or wire across a surface, often prepared ...
. An online facsimile of the entire text of Vol. 1 is posted on the Traditional Fine Arts Organization website (http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/10aa/10aa557.htm )


Childhood in Guadalajara

He was originally christened Javier Timoteo Martínez y Orozco, but later called himself ''Xavier Tizoc Martinez'', the middle name acknowledging his
Purépecha The Purépecha ( ) are a group of Indigenous people centered in the northwestern region of Michoacán, Mexico, mainly in the area of the cities of Cherán and Pátzcuaro. They are also known by the derogatory term " Tarascan", an exonym, app ...
heritage. He was known to his friends as "Marty." Martinez was born in
Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...
in 1869 to a Mexican father and a Spanish mother. Martinez began drawing his classmates and teachers at a young age while attending public school. After school he worked in his father's bookstore
bookbinding Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers alon ...
and helping with printing chores. He learned French and wrote poetry, admiring the poems of
Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
,
Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...
and various French poets. In his later autobiographical writings he recalled how at age ten his mother would teach him about the movements of
celestial bodies An astronomical object, celestial object, stellar object or heavenly body is a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists within the observable universe. In astronomy, the terms ''object'' and ''body'' are of ...
.


Early life

Martinez reflected that at this age he had his first awareness that there was a rhythm in the order of things. At age 13 he began attending the Liceo de Varones (Grammar School for Men), where he studied
pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...
archaeology and his TaPurépechaascan heritage. He excelled in Indian designs and arts, and painted an oil copy of ''Entombment'' by
Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...
. When his biological mother died at age 17, he was fostered and taken in by an aristocratic woman named Rosalia LaBastida de Coney (1844–1897), she was married to an American, Alexander K. Coney (1847–1930) who worked for Mexico's foreign office. When Alexander Coney was appointed Consul-General of Mexico and posted to in San Francisco in 1886, Martinez followed them, sailing through the Golden Gate in 1893. Upon arrival in San Francisco, in 1893 Martinez enrolled in the California School of Design, also known as the
Mark Hopkins Institute of Art San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a Private college, private art school, college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mis ...
or San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). In 1895 he received the school's Avery Golden Medal in painting and an honorable mention in drawing. He graduated in 1897, worked briefly as assistant to the head of the institute, Arthur Frank Mathews, and became a member of the
Bohemian Club The Bohemian Club is a private club with two locations: a city clubhouse in the Nob Hill district of San Francisco, California, and the Bohemian Grove, a retreat north of the city in Sonoma County. Founded in 1872 from a regular meeting of jour ...
. Martinez entered the Paris
École des Beaux Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...
, Atelier Gérome in 1897. In 1898 he sent a number of paintings of Paris scenes back to the Bohemian Club for an exhibition in San Francisco. He enjoyed the company of
Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...
and graduated from the École in 1899. In 1900 he entered the Academy of
Eugène Carrière Eugène Anatole Carrière (; 16 January 1849 – 27 March 1906) was a French Symbolist artist of the fin-de-siècle period. Carrière's paintings are best known for their near-monochrome brown palette and their ethereal, dreamlike quality. ...
and his ''Portrait of Miss Marion Holden'' – a Tonalist work similar to ''Whistler's Mother'' – won an honorable mention in the Mexican display at the Paris International Exposition.


Return to San Francisco, Mexico trips

In 1901 he moved back to San Francisco, he shared an art studio with Gottardo Piazzoni and that year became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He advertised as a portrait painter, but also continued to paint tonalist landscapes. In the subsequent year he helped found the California Society of Artists with Piazzoni,
Maynard Dixon Maynard Dixon (January 24, 1875 – November 11, 1946) was an American artist. He was known for his paintings, and his body of work focused on the American West. Dixon is considered one of the finest artists having dedicated most of their art to ...
, Charles Peter Neilson and other artists who were disaffected with the
San Francisco Art Association The San Francisco Art Association (SFAA) was an organization that promoted California artists, held art exhibitions, published a periodical, and established the first art school west of Chicago. The SFAA – which, by 1961, completed a long sequen ...
. Their first and only exhibition included seventeen works by Martinez, mostly French scenes. In 1904 he began sharing his Montgomery Street atelier with Maynard Dixon; they held joint studio shows on Saturdays. The two travelled to Arizona and
Tepic Tepic () is the capital and largest city of the western Mexico, Mexican Political divisions of Mexico, state of Nayarit, as well as the seat of the Tepic Municipality. Located in the central part of the state, it stands at an altitude of above ...
, Mexico, in April 1905; upon their return Martinez held several exhibitions. In 1905 he spent two months in Guadalajara with Maynard Dixon. Upon his return to San Francisco he held a number of exhibitions, and also gave one show in New York, emphasizing the recent Mexican
genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...
paintings. That year he produced a painting a critic called a "masterpiece," given the title ''The Prayer of the Earth'' by his poet friend
George Sterling George Sterling (December 1, 1869 – November 17, 1926) was an American writer based in the San Francisco, California Bay Area and Carmel-by-the-Sea. He was considered a prominent poet and playwright and proponent of Bohemianism during the fir ...
.


Personal life

After the earthquake of 1906 he moved across the bay to
Piedmont, California Piedmont is a small city located in Alameda County, California, United States, enclaved by the city of Oakland. Its residential population was 11,270 at the 2020 census. The name comes from the region of Piedmont in Italy, and it means 'foothil ...
, and met Elsie Whitaker, 20 years his junior, the daughter of the writer Herman Whitaker. On October 17, 1907, he married Elsie Whitaker in Oakland. After their honeymoon in
Carmel-by-the-Sea Carmel-by-the-Sea (), commonly known simply as Carmel, is a city in Monterey County, California, located on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 3,220, down from 3,722 at the 2010 census. Situa ...
they commenced building a studio in Piedmont. During the summers of 1909 to 1914, they rented a house in Carmel so that Martínez could teach art classes at the
Hotel Del Monte The Hotel Del Monte was a large resort hotel in Monterey, California, from its opening in 1880 until 1942. It was one of the finest luxury hotels in North America. During World War II, it closed and the building was leased to the United States ...
. The Martínezes had a daughter on August 13, 1913: Micaela Martinez. She became a fine artist, studying painting with
Victor Arnautoff Victor Mikhail Arnautoff (November 11, 1896 – March 22, 1979) was a Russian-American painter and professor of art. He worked in San Francisco and the Bay Area from 1925 to 1963, including two decades as a teacher at Stanford University, and was ...
and sculpture with
Ralph Stackpole Ralph Ward Stackpole (May 1, 1885 – December 10, 1973) was an American sculpture, sculptor, painter, muralist, etcher and art educator, San Francisco's leading artist during the 1920s and 1930s. Stackpole was involved in the art and causes of so ...
; she later studied stone cutting with Ruth Cravath. In 1944 she married artist Ralph DuCasse and changed her name to Micaela Martinez DuCasse. In 1923, Elsie and Xavier Martínez separated.


Art and teaching career

Martinez was one of a group of artists invited to create an art gallery at Monterey's
Hotel Del Monte The Hotel Del Monte was a large resort hotel in Monterey, California, from its opening in 1880 until 1942. It was one of the finest luxury hotels in North America. During World War II, it closed and the building was leased to the United States ...
in 1907. He began teaching as a substitute drawing teacher in June 1909 at the California School of Arts and Crafts (CSAC) in Berkeley. By August he was appointed a permanent member of the faculty with the title "Instructor for Still Life and Landscape Painting in Oil." He published several articles on art history in the CSAC Alumni Magazine. He exhibited with members of the Berkeley art colony between 1906 and 1911. He taught at the
California School of Fine Arts San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...
in San Francisco from 1916 to 1917, but his contract was not renewed because the conservative director of that school,
Pedro Joseph de Lemos Pedro Joseph de Lemos (25 May 1882 – 5 December 1954) was an American painter, printmaker, architect, illustrator, writer, lecturer, museum director and art educator in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to about 1930 he used the simpler name Pe ...
, objected to Martinez's "flamboyant attire and socialist-inspired commentaries." Martinez continued to teach at the CSAC and moved in 1924 to its new Oakland campus where three years later he was appointed a "Professor of Painting." He officially retired in September 1942. The School was renamed the
California College of the Arts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened a second campus in ...
(CCA) in 2003. He taught summer classes in the Monterey area from 1910 to 1914. From 1915 through the late 1920s he instructed his summer classes from his Piedmont studio-home. In 1912 he helped found the California Society of Etchers; then, the following year he was elected to the National Geographic Society and given a key to the Capitol Club in Monterey. Also in 1913 he made a painting trip to the Arizona desert with Francis McComas (painter), which abruptly ended with much animosity and negative publicity in the press. In 1914,
Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subjec ...
Childe Hassam Frederick Childe Hassam (; October 17, 1859 – August 27, 1935) was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressionis ...
and Edward Simmons came to Piedmont to view Martinez' desert paintings. The following year he exhibited at the Panama Pacific International Exhibition (where he won honorable mention) and at the Golden Gate Park Museum in San Francisco. Throughout this period he had shows in New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Noted paintings of this period are ''Head of a Girl'', ''The Storm'', ''Piedmont Hills'' and ''Lake Merritt''. Between 1916 and 1920 he had numerous exhibitions including at the
Palace of Fine Arts The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally built for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to 197 ...
, The San Francisco Art Association and the Hotel Oakland. Martinez became a member of the
American Federation of Arts The American Federation of Arts (AFA) is a nonprofit organization that creates art exhibitions for presentation in museums around the world, publishes exhibition catalogues, and develops education programs. The organization’s founding in 1909 ...
in 1921. In subsequent years he continued to exhibit, but was increasingly called upon to be a juror of other artists' works. In 1935 he showed ''The Green Moon'' at the
San Francisco Museum of Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art, and has b ...
. In 1939 he exhibited ''Portrait of Elsie'' at the 1939–1940
Golden Gate International Exposition The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) was a World's Fair held at Treasure Island in San Francisco, California, U.S. The exposition operated from February 18, 1939, through October 29, 1939, and from May 25, 1940, through September 29, ...
(GGIE), on Treasure Island. Martinez was selected in 1940 to represent California in the Hall of Fame at the World's Fair of 1940 in New York as one of three (along with Father Junipero Serra and William Keith).


Writings

Under the influence of his friend the poet
George Sterling George Sterling (December 1, 1869 – November 17, 1926) was an American writer based in the San Francisco, California Bay Area and Carmel-by-the-Sea. He was considered a prominent poet and playwright and proponent of Bohemianism during the fir ...
, Martinez wrote poetry. His poem "Mictlan" was selected for publication in the
Book Club of California The Book Club of California is a non-profit membership organization of bibliophiles based in San Francisco, operating continuously since 1912. Its mission is to support the history and art of the book, including fine printing related to the hist ...
's prestigious 1925 anthology ''Continent's End: An Anthology of Contemporary California Poets''. During the last two decades of his life, Martinez became increasingly interested in his indigenous Mexican heritage. He published poetry and philosophic writings in a column entitled "Notas de un Chichimeca" in the Hispano-Americano, San Francisco's Spanish-language newspaper.''A History of Mexican Americans in California: Historic Sites/Martinez House, Oakland''
In 1935 his article ''Aztecas—Naluatlecas or Mexicas'' appeared in ''California Arts and Architecture''.


Death

In 1941, Martinez became ill. Elsie brought him to Carmel to be with her, their daughter, and Harriet Dean. He was with Elsie for seven months before he died on January 13, 1943.


Permanent collections

Xavier Martinez' paintings are held in the following museums: *
Crocker Art Museum The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the Western United States, located in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1885, the museum holds one of the premier collections of Californian art. The collection includes American works dating f ...
, Sacramento, California *
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. FAMSF's combined attendance was 1,1 ...
* Guadalajara Art Museum *
Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...
Art Museum *
Oakland Museum of California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...


See also

* California Tonalism


References


External links


Online Archive of California: "Self-portrait of Xavier Martinez"
''oil sketch on academy board, presented to
Haig Patigian Haig Patigian (, ; January 22, 1876 – September 19, 1950), was an Ottoman Empire-born American sculptor, of Armenians, Armenian heritage. He spent most of his life in San Francisco, California. Biography Haig Patigian was born on January 22, ...
in 1912.''
Xavier Martinez and Benjamin Bufano, 1922

Elsie Martinez oral history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Xavier 1869 births 1943 deaths Mexican emigrants to the United States 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters 20th-century American painters Tonalism Artists from Guadalajara, Jalisco People from Piedmont, California History of the San Francisco Bay Area American artists of Mexican descent Painters from California People of the New Deal arts projects American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts San Francisco Art Institute alumni California College of the Arts faculty Artists from Carmel-by-the-Sea, California Naturalized citizens of the United States Mexican people of Purépecha descent Mexican people of Spanish descent American people of Purépecha descent 20th-century American male artists