Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin

Henri Martin (Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin, 1860–1943) develops a form of painting removed from academic models, in which short, separate and parallel brushstrokes construct form and light through a divisionism described as spontaneous rather than theorised. The Symbolist aspect of his work includes Chacun sa chimère (1891), oil on canvas, and Vers l’abîme (1897). In 1878, Orphée receives the prize of the city of Toulouse.

Born in Toulouse, he studies there at the École des beaux-arts from 1877 to 1879, in the studio of Jules Garipuy. In 1879, a municipal scholarship enables him to go to Paris, where he becomes a pupil of Jean-Paul Laurens. In 1885, he travels through Italy with Edmond Aman-Jean and Ernest Laurent, and studies the Primitives there. The writers he reads include Poe, Dante, Byron, Baudelaire and Verlaine. In 1892, he takes part in the salons of Joséphin Péladan’s Rose-Croix esthétique.

In June 1899, Martin joins the Société nouvelle de peintres et de sculpteurs. The group presents its first group exhibition at the Galerie Georges Petit in Paris in March 1900. His work includes public commissions for several buildings: the Capitole de Toulouse, the Sorbonne in 1908, the Hôtel de ville de Paris, an office in the Élysée in 1908, the Conseil d’État between 1914 and 1922, and the town hall of the 5th arrondissement in 1935. Elected a full member of the Académie des beaux-arts, painting section, on 24 November 1917, he had received the Cross of a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1896, before being appointed an Officer in 1905 and then a Commander in 1914. He establishes his studio in Labastide-du-Vert, in the Lot, where he dies in 1943. The Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin holds many works by the painter.

Works recorded at auction

Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer · Lot 4

Flowers

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Fleurs
huile sur toile

Catalogue period : 2025-06-25

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

View the lot at the auction house ↗

Kornfeld · Lot 399

Landscape in the Lot, Saint-Cirq-Lapopie

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Paysage du Lot, Saint-Cirq-Lapopie
Huile sur toile

Catalogue period : 2020-09-17

Published result : 50000 CHF

Hammer price, excluding fees

Estimate : CHF 60000

View the lot at the auction house ↗

Lempertz · Lot 173

Le sous-bois

Oil on wood

Original catalogue wording

Le sous-bois
Öl auf Holz

Auction date : 2020-06-20

Published result : 14374 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 15000

View the lot at the auction house ↗

Germann

Automne sur La Bastide-du-Vert, um 1920

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Automne sur La Bastide-du-Vert, um 1920
Öl auf Leinwand.

Date to be documented

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

View the lot at the auction house ↗

Dobiaschofsky · Lot 484

"Le Pont à Labastide du Vert en été vers midi".

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

"Le Pont à Labastide du Vert en été vers midi".
Öl auf Leinwand

Date to be documented

Published result : 170000 CHF

Fees not specified in the available data

Estimate : CHF 190000

View the lot at the auction house ↗