Landscape Around Eygalières (provence) By Henri-andré Martin (1918-2004)

Oil on canvas, signed lower left Henri-André Martin, depicting a landscape around Eygalières. Dimensions: 92 cm x 65 cm.

Biography:

Henri-André Martin was born in Lyon in January 1918 into a family of doctors. From a very young age, his passion was painting, but, yielding to family influence, he chose medicine, while still managing to divide his time between these two arts.

Throughout his career, he successfully combined medicine and painting, also achieving a prominent place in the latter, culminating in a book on Van Gogh's illness, published in 1994. His pictorial work is very extensive: paintings, serigraphs, and lithographs. He was awarded the Maurice Utrillo Prize in 1964 and received the Medal of Honor from the Lyon Society of Fine Arts. He participated in numerous exhibitions in French and international galleries (New York, Frankfurt, Geneva, etc.), as well as in the creation of highly bibliographical books, such as the "Bestiary of Insects" and "Lyon" by René Deroudille and Jean Albert Carlotti. He was a corresponding member of the Institut de France. He will remain in everyone's memory as a brilliant surgeon, an esteemed master who wielded both scalpel and brush with equal elegance. Contemplative yet active, he longed to pursue painting, which was his true calling. This vocation had been encouraged by Joseph Lamberton, a painter and sculptor from Saint-Étienne, and by Henry Grosjean, who agreed to give painting lessons to my father during the summer at the family estate of Jasseron in the Bresse region.

The artistic environment:

Henri André Martin's friends were mostly artists. Joseph Lamberton, Henry Grosjean, Pierre Eugène Montézin, Jean Carlotti, Jean Fusaro, André Cottavoz, and Jacques Truphémus, among the leading figures of the Lyon School, exhibited regularly at the Malaval Gallery, which belonged to my father and was managed by his wife, Anne-Marie. We should also mention Mario Prassinos and Roland Oudot, who painted in Eygalières, Henri de Waroquier, Camille Hilaire, Louis Pons, and Michel Ciry. The latter two, very close friends with very different personalities, took turns spending extended periods at our house in Eygalières. Joseph Alessandri, our neighbor, and Jean Cardot, Permanent Secretary of the Institut de France, were among our dearest friends, but many others should be mentioned. The encounter, and subsequent friendship, with Jean Souverbie perfectly illustrates my father's personality.

Titles and Awards:

Numerous awards, including the Maurice Utrillo Prize in 1964. Awarded the "Hors Concours" (out of competition) and later the Medal of Honor from the Lyon Society of Fine Arts. Member of the Salon du Sud-Est until his death in 2004. Exhibited at the Salon du Dessin et de la Peinture à l’Eau (Drawing and Watercolor Salon), Paris. Member of the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (National Society of Fine Arts Salon), Paris. Member of the Salon d’Automne (Autumn Salon), Paris: Corresponding Member of the Institut de France.

Exhibitions:

1962: Galerie Chardin (Paris);

1965: (Geneva);

1965: Château de la Jansonne

1971–2000: Galerie Malaval (Lyon);

1973: Château de la Jansonne (Cavaillon);

1978: Chapelle du Grand Couvent (Cavaillon);

1979: Lacoux Contemporary Art Center 1981: Visconti Gallery (Paris); 1987: Rillieux Contemporary Art Fair (Rhône); 1988: Maison de Lyon (Lyon); 1992: Artrium (Maurice Ravel Auditorium), Lyon; Braquahage Gallery, Honfleur; 1996: Léa and Napoléon Bullukian Foundation (Lyon); 2008: Léa and Napoléon Bullukian Foundation (Lyon).
Paintings exhibited in numerous galleries:
New York, Dallas, Caracas, Geneva.

Serigraphs, lithographs, large-format books
Numerous serigraphs and lithographs (Mourlot workshop, then Dejobert in Paris, Badier workshop in Lyon, André Dupertuis workshop in Eygalières); a collection of six plates entitled *Les troncs* and especially *L’olivier*, a work produced in the purest tradition of large-format books; Edition of highly bibliophile books: The Insect Bestiary by Jean Vasca and Joseph Alessandri, The Lyon by René Déroudille and Jean Carlotti, The Creation of the World by Jean Piaubert.
Public collections: City of Lyon, Rodez Museum, National Fund for Contemporary Art…