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HENRI MARTIN (1860-1943) Worker on the Place de la Concorde
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See original version (French)
54
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HENRI MARTIN (1860-1943) Worker on the Place de la Concorde
…
See original version (French)
Estimate €20,000 - €30,000
Voluntary lot
Description
HENRI MARTIN (1860-1943)
Worker on the Place de la Concorde
Oil on canvas
Signed lower right
(Re-tooled)
95 x 52 cm - 37 x 20 1/2 in.
Mrs Marie-Anne Destrebecq-Martin and Mr Charles-Louis Duriez-Destrebecq have confirmed the authenticity of this work. A notice of inclusion in the archives for the catalogue raisonné of Henri-Jean-Guillaume Martin, dated 10 May 2026, will be given to the buyer.
Oil on lined canvas, signed lower right
Provenance :
Sale, Tableaux modernes, Ader-Picard-Tajan, Paris, Palais d'Orsay, 26 June 1979, lot 84 (titled Paysan aux champs)
Private collection, France (acquired during the previous sale then by descent)
Notes:
"In 1918, Henri Martin again exhibited a number of landscapes which prompted Pierre Mille to write in La Gazette des Beaux-Arts: "First and foremost, we must salute Henri Martin, whose three paintings are equally delightful. They are sure and calm joys for the eye and the spirit.
To be compared with the thought of Delacroix: "A painting must above all be a feast for the eyes."
Henri Martin was commissioned to decorate the Salle des Délibérations of the Conseil d'État in the Palais-Royal, which, along with the Salle du Capitole in Toulouse, would become his most important project. He devoted five years to this project.
From this considerable body of work, La Moisson in 1920, Le Port de Marseille and Le Penseur in 1922, were warmly received by the press, which always unanimously praised his superior intelligence in decoration. I will just quote a few lines by J. Dorin in La Gazette des Beaux-Arts, which I think are particularly pertinent and subtle:
"... This accent, which cannot be learned, which one carries within oneself, has long made the reputation of Henri Martin. His paintings have a decisive character. They merely confirm a past of hard work and determination. Henri Martin is one of those rare Impressionists who did not allow themselves to be hypnotised by the process of tonal division...".
A very accurate technical remark. Henri Martin never applied pure tonal division. He would spend a long time looking for his tones on the palette to find the exact expression of what his eye saw! For him, the juxtaposition or multiplication of brushstrokes sought above all to convey the vibrancy of the atmosphere, but also to go ever further in the finesse and cleanliness of the tone, which was not easy. In an evening sky, for example, how do you achieve that rare tone, at once a little green, a little mauve and a little gold? Mixing the three would give a dirty tone, but if you juxtapose them, you get a vibration that's much closer to reality. His pointillism - a word that made him smile and even annoyed him a little - was therefore aimed solely at getting closer to his vision.
And J. Dorin continues about the Port of Marseille:
"... Here he gives more importance to the hectic life of the port than to the silent and solitary work of thought; not without intention: today the so-called intellectual is, if not the pariah, at least the true pauper of the civilised world. Henri Martin has isolated him in a high, deep forest, while the longshoremen, all fat, work in the open air and under a bright sun!"
On the last panel, La Place de la Concorde, exhibited in 1926, how could we choose between so many articles? In La Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Rocheblave, a professor of art history, wrote:
"A great composition, beyond compare, receives unanimous acclaim and consecrates the career of one of the most sincere artists of our time. In this great triptych, Henri Martin has reached the pinnacle of his art and his technique, one so broadly true, just and great, the other so vibrant, so speaking to the eyes and so moving to the imagination. This vast painting, in which the figures, the architectural lines and the plans all contribute to direct truth through their accuracy and volume, is a reality ablaze with poetry, and a dream through the radiant atmosphere in which the activity of the workers at work is bathed, as if in a symbol of the life of Paris. This is very great art, and one that escapes all manner, although it is above all a personal art."
In La Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Focillon, the famous art historian, wrote:
"This master, in whom we like to see a realist of yesterday, is, in fact, the eloquent witness of an idealist era. He was the first to dare to bring poetry into modern art, and I have not forgotten the struggles he had to endure...".
This is followed by an enthusiastic and colourful description of La Place de la Concorde, and he concludes: "Around contemporary humanity, he makes an ardent light and the changing poetry of the hours vibrate. In this Salon, this serene youthfulness, after such a broad and courageous career, is an honour and a lesson."
Jacques Martin-Ferrières, Henri Martin, sa vie, son œuvre, Paris: Presses du compagnonnage, 1967, pp. 90-91
Additional information:
This work is a character study for the right-hand panel of Travaux sur la Place de la Concorde (La France laborieuse se présentant devant le Conseil d'État), Paris, Conseil d'État, salle de l'Assemblée générale, c. 1920-1925.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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