Charles James Martin, American Modernist

Charles James Martin

 (September 1886 – August 9, 1955), 

American modernist artist and arts instructor.

Charles Martin worked in a variety of media including etching, lithography, water color, monotype, linocut, woodcut, oil, photography, mezzotint and silversmithing. I became aware of this artist after stumbling over this great Pelicans woodcut print.

It's very much in the tradition of some great Zoo related prints by German printmakers Helene Grand-Tupke (1971-1946) and Suisse Martha Cunz (1876-1961)

Born in Mansfield, England in 1886, Martin emigrated to the USA as a boy and lived out the remainder of his life as an American. He studied art under Arthur Wesley Dow at Dow’s Ipswich Summer School of Art as well as at Columbia University Teachers College, where he became an instructor himself in 1914.

These two monotype prints standing out because of the use of the wonderful warm yellows  and  perspective. Had they only been block prints instead of one-offs.

Martin attained professorship at Teachers College in 1923 and continued his work there into the 1940s. Georgia O’Keeffe attended Martin’s class at Teachers college in 1914-15, where she met Anita Pollitzer. O’Keeffe considered Martin’s instruction significant enough that she continued sending examples of her work for his critique in the period after she attended his class. Martin even had a fan in Winston Churchill.

In the 1910s, Martin also studied photography with Clarence H. White at Teachers College, and became an instructor at White’s School of Photography in 1918. Also in 1918, Martin won first prize in a photography contest held by Columbia University in which Dow and White were judges. During this time period, he also served on the Executive Committee of the Pictorial Photographers of America.

Martin spent many summers in the 1920s-50s living and teaching plein air art classes in Provincetown, Mass, and also in Mexico. Martin continued working as an art instructor, often on a freelance basis, for the remainder of his life. He died on August 9, 1955.

I’ld welcome any contributions for further sharing.  

All pictures borrowed freely from the internet for friendly and educationbal use only. Text borrowed from Wikipedia 

Winthrop Stark Davis, the Lincoln Automobile Ads 3/3

Winthrop Stark Davis
(1885-1950)
American painter, printer and illustrator

The Lincoln Automobile Co. Advertisments

In this posting I show all (11) Lincoln Automobile Ads I could find. Some of these examples I found at: mydelineatedlife.blogspot.com (a visit is recommended, lots of nice illustrations in high resolution). The birds are great, the cars: well, they don't make them like that anymore.

I really don't know if these eleven ads were "it". There might have been more. I'm very curious. If you have any, please don't hesitate commenting or email me at : g.caspers@hccnet.nl

Winthrop Stark Davis, more paintings 2/3

Winthrop Stark Davis

(1885-1950)

American painter, printer and illustrator.

27 Chicago Designer.

After Stark Davis' colourful parrots here are some more examples of his art. Birds of paradise, phantasie birds etc.. He must have been very succesful with these compositions in his days, because all pictures I could find show these animals and all are closely resembling in style. For his inspiration (the parrots, aigrettes and gibbons) he must have been also a faithful visitor of Chicago's Lincoln Park ZOO. See also the Linosaurus : http://gerrie-thefriendlyghost.blogspot.com/2010/11/elisabeth-sawyer-norton.html . Today again his paintings (he worked mostly in pastel) fetch high prices in auctions.

Stark Davis will be mostly remembered for his parrots pastels but also for his cooperation with the Lincoln Automobile Co. advertisments. He used (earlier) paintings and motifs for these illustrations that were very popular and famous in the 1920's. I don't know if they actually helped selling Lincoln Cars but the ads stood out.


I think I detect a wink at Japanese printmakers in this Siamese cat, lotus and "falling from the sky" bird.




These unforgettable gibbons (above, almost like a Holy family, my favourite

I found some other pictures but they were are too small to be shown here. Sending more examples of Stark Davis paintings for sharing to g.caspers@hccnet.nl would be very much appreciated.

Winthrop Stark Davis (27 Chicago designers) 1/3

Winthrop Stark Davis (1885-1950)

American Painter, Printer and Illustrator.
Member of the 27 Chicago Designers.

Finding a picture of one of these colorful parrots by this wonderful artist was a big and happy surprise. I made an Internet excavation and here are the results. In three separate postings. I haven't found a book or site dedicated to his work so far. If there is, please don't hesitate sending me more examples or information. Most pictures are "left mouse clickable".

Winthrop Stark Davis was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1885. He subsequently lived and worked in Chicago, where he was affiliated with several arts institutions including the Palette and Chisel Club. Davis exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1924 and at the Chicago Galleries Association in 1930, winning prizes in both shows.

Most examples of his art (that I found) are executed in pastel showing colorful parrots, resembling and reminding stylish of the many parrots depicted by Austrian linocut artist Norbertine Bresslern Roth(1891-1978) and American painter Jessie Arms Botke (1883-1971). Examples of both artists earlier in the Linosaurus (use the search function).

During the 1920s and 1930s Stark Davis’s illustrations appeared on covers of the Ladies’ Home Journal, and in numerous advertisements, and from 1927 to 1929, Davis’s artistic and colorful “Bird Series” of ads for Lincoln automobiles ran in popular magazines such as Country Life and Home and Garden. Today I (part 1/3) show all his parrot prints, later this week I'll show prints of other animals (part 2/3) and his Lincoln advertising art (part 2/3) in separate postings. During his time in Chicago, Davis would make trips to Santa Barbara, California, and subsequently relocated to Los Angeles, where he worked at the Disney Animation Studios and exhibited at the Ainslie Gallery in 1936.
By 1947, Davis had retired from painting and was living in Morro Bay, a seaside town on California’s Central Coast.

Biography from: Spencer Jon Helfen Fine Arts.

Following soon: Part 2/3: other animals by Stark Davis, Part 3/3: the Lincoln automobile ads.