1836 - 1897
After leaving school at age 13, Homer Martin worked at several jobs in the Albany area before the sculptor, Erastus Dow Palmer, convinced his parents to allow him to pursue an artistic career. He spent a short time in the studio of James Hart and by the late 1850s, was exhibiting at Academy Annuals and had his own studio in Albany. He formed part of the circle of area artists which included Edward Gay, George Boughton, and William Hart.
Defective eyesight kept Martin from fighting in the Civil War, and a year after his 1861 marriage to Elizabeth Gilbert, he moved to New York, eventually taking a studio in the Tenth Street Building. His landscapes of this time, views inspired by trips to the Adirondacks, the Catskills, and the White Mountains, owed much to the influence of older Hudson River School painters, but after a crucial trip to Europe in 1876, Martin's style became more characteristically broad and tonal, changes which have been attributed to his meeting of James A. McN. Whistler and his discovery of the work of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.
Martin often found himself unable to paint, and during long periods without income, the published works of his wife supported the couple. Described by contemporaries as disagreeable and moody, he had few artist friends, the exceptions being John La Farge and Winslow Homer. In need of money in 1881, he left for England in order to fulfill a Century Magazine commission to illustrate the places which appeared in popular English novels. Moving to France to join the family of William J. Hennessy, the Martins remained in the Honfleur region until 1886.
With his return to New York, Martin's production became increasingly sporadic. He spent the summer of 1892 in England and returned the following year to St. Paul, where he hoped to find a restful environment to battle his ill health. Although his eyesight was failing, he painted some of his most memorable works before succumbing to cancer several years later.
Defective eyesight kept Martin from fighting in the Civil War, and a year after his 1861 marriage to Elizabeth Gilbert, he moved to New York, eventually taking a studio in the Tenth Street Building. His landscapes of this time, views inspired by trips to the Adirondacks, the Catskills, and the White Mountains, owed much to the influence of older Hudson River School painters, but after a crucial trip to Europe in 1876, Martin's style became more characteristically broad and tonal, changes which have been attributed to his meeting of James A. McN. Whistler and his discovery of the work of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.
Martin often found himself unable to paint, and during long periods without income, the published works of his wife supported the couple. Described by contemporaries as disagreeable and moody, he had few artist friends, the exceptions being John La Farge and Winslow Homer. In need of money in 1881, he left for England in order to fulfill a Century Magazine commission to illustrate the places which appeared in popular English novels. Moving to France to join the family of William J. Hennessy, the Martins remained in the Honfleur region until 1886.
With his return to New York, Martin's production became increasingly sporadic. He spent the summer of 1892 in England and returned the following year to St. Paul, where he hoped to find a restful environment to battle his ill health. Although his eyesight was failing, he painted some of his most memorable works before succumbing to cancer several years later.
