Phillip John Martin (1927–2014) was a visionary painter working with collage and sculpture.
Early life, UK and Ireland
editMartin was born in 1927 in East Anglia to an Irish family. He was the son of a bank director. He attended Felsted Public school for ten years, between 1938 and 1948. He served three years in the British Royal Navy. In the summer of 1948, he entered the Third Order of Saint Francis brotherhood as a lay brother. He left the order because of differences in philosophy and devoted himself to painting. He then lived in London. He was an artist in residence at the Abbey Arts Centre (London) 1949–1950 where he met Irish Australian fellow artist Helen Marshall (1918–1996) and Stacha Halpern.[1] Phillip Martin... defined by the well-known French critic Alain Jouffroy: “the Gandhi of modern painting”. A globetrotting, hippie artist who painted "spiritual" paintings full of symbols and effigies with decorations to evoke sacred vestments or decorations of oriental temples. Martin had started painting in London in 1948 also encouraged by his painter friend Alan Davie, a little older than him. He later began with his Irish wife Helen Marshall to travel and paint throughout Europe.[1]
France, Spain and Italy until 1962
edit1951 journey to Austria, first Affiches painted on packing paper. Becoming the central theme of his work.
1952 travel to Italy, Aix en Provence, Paris. Michel Tapié acquire many affiches, presents them in June at Galerie Facchetti;[2] Les signifiants de l’informel[3] with Camille Bryen, Donati, Gillet, Mathieu, Pollock, Riopelle, and Jaroslav Serpan.Works for six months in Connemara, Ireland and meet Gerard Dillon.
1953–1956 Phillip Martin and his wife Helen Marshall work on their paintings in Positano, Ischia, Florence where they meet Roberto Matta
1956–57 Work in South of France, Aix en Provence meet André Masson and Pierre Alechinsky.
1958–60 working period in Mallorca, Alicante, Ibiza, Formentera. Période of Apocalypses, Reliquaires meet Alan Sillitoe.
1960–62 Return to Paris, Phillip work on a series of paintings Affiches for Ireland. Meet Erró in Paris; and Mark Tobey in Basel.
Move to India
editPhillip Martin and his family moved to India, 1962–1969 and settled in the Aurobindoashram, near Pondicherry. They were the first Anglo Saxon family living in the Ashram. Two years later, they travelled back to Brussels and held a major retrospective at the Palais de Beaux arts de Brussels.[4] and Phillip exhibited a second time at Galerie du Dragon in Paris.[5] Back in the south of India, Phillip and his family witnessed the opening of Auroville in 1968. He exhibits in Mumbai at the Jehangir Art Gallery, with Helen Marshall and Bhupen Khakhar.[6]
Australia, 1969–2014
editHe returned to Australia in 1969 and exhibited in a joint exhibition with Helen Marshall for the inauguration of the new Holdsworth Galleries in Paddington Sydney. They lived in Melbourne for a year, exhibiting at St Kilda Tolarno Gallery. Living next door to Mirka Mora in Wellington street Prarhan. 1979, Return to Australia, and continue to work and exhibit.[7] He lived in his house in Glebe, New South Wales until the day of his death in 2014.
Public collections
edit- Museum of Modern Art, MOMA, New York City, USA.[8]
- Centre National d’art Contemporain.[9]
- Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, USA.[10][11]
- Dimona Art Gallery, Israel.
- Municipal Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. Ireland.
- La Boverie. Belgium.
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco. USA.
- Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago. USA[12]
- Campbeltown regional Art Gallery. Campbeltown, Australia.
- National Gallery of Australia. Canberra. Australia.[13]
- Gladsaxe Kommunes . Danemark.
References
edit- ^ a b Martin, Phillip; Galleria Peccolo (2017). Phillip Martin: affiche – collage, 1951–1981. ISBN 978-88-96294-41-3. OCLC 1010636490. Archived from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
- ^ Tapié, Michel (23 October 1952). Un art autre: ou il s'agit de nouveaux dévidages du réel. Giraud. OCLC 615139102. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021 – via Open WorldCat.
- ^ Musée du Luxembourg (c. 2006). L'envolée lyrique: Paris 1945–1956. Milan: Skira. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- ^ Helen Marshall, Phillip Martin. 23 October 1966. OCLC 634304097. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021 – via Open WorldCat.
- ^ Martin, Phillip; Jouffroy, Alain; Galleria del naviglio (Milan, Italy) (23 October 1966). Phillip Martin: 442a mostra del Naviglio. Galleria del naviglio. OCLC 272567056. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021 – via Open WorldCat.
- ^ "Bhupen Khakhar". Gallery7. Archived from the original on 21 February 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
- ^ "Trove". trove.nla.gov.au. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- ^ "Philip John Martin. Painting, Positano. 1953 | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
- ^ "| Cnap".
- ^ "The House of Symbol". www.dia.org. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
- ^ Martin, Phillip; Detroit Institute of Arts Research Library & Archives. Phillip Martin. OCLC 946773196. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
- ^ "Affiche Metro". 23 October 1952. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2021 – via Art Institute of Chicago.
- ^ "National Gallery – Search the Collection". searchthecollection.nga.gov.au. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2021.