Mary Martin (artist)

Mary Adela Martin
Born Mary Balmford
(1907-11-16)November 16, 1907
Folkestone, United Kingdom
Died October 9, 1969(1969-10-09) (aged 61)
London, United Kingdom
Nationality British
Education University of London, Royal College of Art
Known for Painting, Sculpture
Movement Abstract Art
Spouse(s) Kenneth Martin

Mary Adela Martin (née Balmford) (16 January 1907 in Folkestone – 9 October 1969 in London) was a British sculptor best known for her work with her husband Kenneth Martin.

Mary Balmford studied at Goldsmiths' College, London in 1925–9 and at the Royal College of Art 1929–32 where she met and married Kenneth Martin in 1930. Exhibited at the A.I.A. from 1934, mainly as a still-life and landscape painter, using her maiden name. During the war Mary taught drawing, design and weaving at Chelmsford School of Art 1941–4 but gave this up when she became pregnant with her first child.[1]

Along with her husband, Mary Martin moved towards pure abstraction in the late 1940s painting her first abstract picture in 1950, made her first reliefs in 1951 and her first free-standing construction in 1956. Kenneth and Mary collaborated on the Environment section of the seminal exhibition This Is Tomorrow. Mary Martin participated in group exhibitions of constructed art in England and abroad, notably Konkrete Kunst, Zürich 1960, and Experiment in Constructie, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1962. Martin designed a screen for the Musgrave Park Hospital in Belfast (1957), reliefs for the Orient Line's S.S. Oriana (1960) and a wall construction for the University of Stirling.[2]

Martin was the joint winner of the 1969 John Moores Painting Prize.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Mary Martin - Tate". Tate.
  2. ↑ 6 paintings by or after Mary Martin, Art UK
  3. ↑ "Cross by Mary Martin (1907-1969)". Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool museums.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.