Knox Martin

Knox Martin was the oldest son of Lieutenant William Knox Martin, a Virginia-born early aviation pioneer and flyer, and his wife Isabel Vieco, who were married in the Canal Zone in Panama in 1921. Knox Martin Sr., a painter, poet, and early test pilot, was the first man to fly over the Andes mountains.{{cite web|url=http://www.knoxmartin.com/about-knox-martin.html |title=About Knox Martin}} Six years after his marriage, Martin Sr. was fatally injured in an automobile accident in Watertown, New York.[http://earlyaviators.com/emartin.htm William Knox Martin- earlyaviators.com] His widow Isabel relocated with her three young sons from Salem, Virginia, to New York City.{{cite web|url=http://www.janosgatgallery.com/JANOS_GAT_GALLERY/Knox_Martin_1.html |title=Knox Martin |publisher=Janosgatgallery.com |date=2003-09-12 |accessdate=2012-04-18}}

After serving in the United States Coast Guard[https://aintmarching.net/2009/06/08/for-d-day-anniversary-the-voice-of-one-who-knows/ For D-Day anniversary: the voice of one who knows] during World War II, Martin attended the Art Students League of New York on the G.I. Bill from 1946 to 1950, where he studied with Harry Sternberg,[https://www.ifpda.org/artist/2142 Harry Sternberg-IFPDA] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424053323/http://www.ifpda.org/content/node/2142 |date=2013-04-24 }} Vaclav Vytlacil,[https://web.archive.org/web/20160314185435/http://theartstudentsleague.org/Residency/AboutVaclavVytlacil.aspx The Art Students League: About Vaclav Vytlacil] Will Barnet,[http://frenchculture.org/visual-and-performing-arts/news/france-honors-will-barnet-chevalier-order-arts-letters France Honors Will Barnet with the Order of Arts and Letters] and Morris Kantor.

In 1954, Martin's friend Franz Kline placed a painting of his in the Stable Gallery Annual.{{cite book|url=http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/50666793&tab=holdings |title=New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists, |year=2000 |publisher=Worldcatlibraries.org |isbn=9780967799407 |accessdate=2012-04-18}} Charles Egan of the Charles Egan Gallery saw Martin's painting at the Stable Gallery and asked him to show his work in a one-man show for the tenth anniversary of the Egan Gallery.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/09/16/archives/about-art-and-artists-knox-martin-impresses-in-first-oneman-show.html | work=The New York Times | title=About Art and Artists; Knox Martin Impresses in First One-Man Show | date=September 16, 1954 | accessdate=April 28, 2010}}

Martin is best known for his repertory of signs and symbols that allude to nature and, in particular, to the female form. Flatly and freely painted in brilliant colors, his works were often executed on a grand scale, as in |the outdoor wall painting, Woman with Bicycle, at West Houston and MacDougal Streets in Manhattan.{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE1DF1039F933A05755C0A967948260 | work=The New York Times | first=Vivien | last=Raynor | title=Art; Knox Martin: Angry But More Human | date=June 30, 1981}} He mostly created painting, sculpture and wall paintings using media such as acrylic, collage, fresco, ink drawing (pen and ink), mixed media/multimedia, and oil.{{cite web|url=http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/search/ArtistKeywords.aspx?artist=32742 |title=Knox Martin - Artist, Art - Knox Martin |publisher=Askart.com |date= |accessdate=2012-04-18}}

One of his wall paintings in New York City is the twelve-story mural Venus.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/nyregion/thecity/11venu.html?ex=1328850000&en=8f4515c95db4a18e&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink | work=The New York Times | first=Alex | last=Mindlin | title=After a 37-Year Run, a Roadside Venus to Be Veiled | date=February 11, 2007}} File:Venus Mural.JPGCommissioned in 1970 by Doris Freedman of CityWalls (later the Public Art Fund),{{cite web|url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/knox-martin/ |title=Knox Martin 1971 WNYC Radio interview about Venus with Doris Freedman of City Walls|accessdate=2022-12-04}} Venus is located on the south side of Bayview Correctional Facility at 19th Street and the West Side Highway.{{cite web|url=http://www.newyorkartworld.com/commentary/KnoxMartin-RoadsideVenus.html |title=Knox Martin and his Roadside Venus |publisher=Newyorkartworld.com |date=2007-02-11 |accessdate=2012-04-18 |url-status=unfit |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070822211418/http://www.newyorkartworld.com/commentary/KnoxMartin-RoadsideVenus.html |archivedate=August 22, 2007 }}

"Traditionally the goddess of love and fertility, Venus represents woman, erotic and supple, but it also conveys Martin's love affair with New York. Venus is his love poem to the city where he has always lived, a place that is part of his being. The feminine, curvilinear shapes of the image are in direct contrast with the straight forms that intersect the composition. The overwhelming size of this enormous mural only intensifies the experience of female shapes, the linear aspects of the painted composition, and of the surrounding architecture. In an era when art was reaching out to the masses with pop culture, this huge mural was Martin's way of touching a public that would never venture into an art gallery."Marilyn Kushner, Knox Martin: Early Work, exh. cat. (New York: Janos Gat Gallery, 1997)

Martin's work is included in the collections of Whitney Museum of American Art,[http://collection.whitney.org/object/366 Whitney Museum of American Art Collection] Museum of Modern Art,{{cite web|url=http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=28705 |title=Museum of Modern Art Collection |publisher=Moma.org |date= |accessdate=2012-04-18}} Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden,[https://hirshhorn.si.edu/search-results/search-result-details/?edan_search_value=hmsg_86.2463 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden] Art Students League of New York, Brooklyn Museum of Art, National Academy of Design,[https://nationalacademy.emuseum.com/objects/3465/eel-flask-and-grapes?ctx=85ec3ebaadd0c50885995b2ad0608dc4eba2fb54&idx=0 National Academy of Design] National Arts Club, New York University, Addison Gallery of American Art, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Art Institute of Chicago, Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Baltimore Museum of Art, Berkeley Art Museum, Blanton Museum of Art, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Chrysler Museum of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Dallas Museum of Art, Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Denver Art Museum, Hand Art Center, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Heckscher Museum of Art, Hofstra University Museum, Indianapolis Museum of Art,{{cite web|url=http://collection.imamuseum.org/results.html?name=Martin,%20Knox |title=Indianapolis Museum of Art Collection |publisher=Imamuseum.org |date= |accessdate=2012-04-18}} Ithaca Museum, Lowe Art Museum, George Washington University, Montclair Art Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Arts,{{cite web | url=https://collections.artsmia.org/index.php?page=detail&id=56582 | title= Minneapolis Institute of Arts | accessdate=2014-04-24 | publisher=artsmia.org}} Newark Museum, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Portland Art Museum, Provincetown Art Association and Museum,{{Cite web |url=https://www.paam.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/PAAM_collection_web_version.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2016-12-11 |archive-date=2016-12-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220191023/https://www.paam.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/PAAM_collection_web_version.pdf |url-status=dead }} Reading Public Museum, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Springfield Art Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,{{cite web | url=https://emuseum.mfah.org/objects/60352/untitled?ctx=ba45c1ffafe14bfb8fc4821d6727cd8b6797e7ec&idx=0 |title=The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Collection}} Toledo Museum of Art, University of Kentucky Art Museum,{{Cite web |url=http://finearts.uky.edu/art-museum/exhibitions/one-one |title=ONE + ONE | College of Fine Arts |access-date=2016-02-22 |archive-date=2016-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309202345/http://finearts.uky.edu/art-museum/exhibitions/one-one |url-status=dead }} University of Maine Museum of Art,{{Cite web|url=https://umma.umaine.edu/fresh-paint-new-acquisitions-to-the-museum-collection/|title=Fresh Paint: New Acquisitions to the Museum Collection - Zillman Art Museum - University of Maine}} Weatherspoon Art Museum,{{cite web|url=https://weatherspoonartmuseum.org/artist-maker/info/1002 |title=Weatherspoon Art Museum Collection |publisher=Weatherspoon.uncg.edu |date= |accessdate=2012-04-18}} William Benton Museum of Art, Israel Museum, Ludwig Museum in Budapest,{{Cite web|url=https://www.ludwigmuseum.hu/en/author/martin-knox|title = Martin, Knox|date = November 2017}} and the Bibliothèque Nationale.

Martin was the recipient of numerous grants, including two Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants (2008 and 1988),{{cite web|url= https://www.pkf-imagecollection.org/search/work/2173?main_keywords=Knox+Martin&search-submit=SEARCH& |title=The Pollock Krasner Foundation - Knox Martin|accessdate=2022-11-18}} Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Grant (1991), C.A.P.S. Grant (1978), an NEA Artist Fellowship (1973), and three Longview Fellowship purchase awards (1958 and 1957).[https://www.knoxmartin.com/about-knox-martin.html About Knox Martin]

In 2002, Martin was named to the National Academy of Design.{{cite web|url=https://nationalacademy.emuseum.com/people/1859/knox-martin?ctx=2b9e6192e7c8dcafbe82ea9f91ca49e0a2286ae3&idx=0|title=National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts |publisher=Nationalacademy.org}} Subsequently, Martin received painting awards from the National Academy of Design including the Desser Award for Painting (2005), the Kept Memorial Prize (2007), the Mary & Maxwell Desser Memorial Award (2009), and the J. Sanford Saltus Medal for Painting (2009).[https://www.knoxmartin.com/about-knox-martin.html About Knox Martin]

In 2012, Martin was awarded the Benjamin West Clinedinst Memorial Medal by the Artists' Fellowship, Inc. "for the achievement of exceptional artistic merit".[https://lion-grouse-5k8g.squarespace.com/af153rd Gala Honoring Knox Martin and Storm King Art Center]

In 2016, France conferred the insignia of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor on Martin for his contribution in World War II to the liberation of France.[https://vimeo.com/191862925 2016 Veterans Day Ceremony/French Legion of Honor]

Martin gave a master class at the Art Students League of New York for over 45 years.[https://theartstudentsleague.org/instructor/knox-martin/ The Art Students League of New York, Instructor, Knox Martin]

Earlier he taught at Yale Graduate School of Art, first as visiting critic in art, invited by Jack Tworkov, and then as Professor of Art. He also taught at New York University, the University of Minnesota, and the International School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture in Umbria, Italy.{{cite web|url=http://www.askart.com/AskART/M/knox_martin/knox_martin.aspx |title=Knox Martin - Artist, Art - Knox Martin |publisher=Askart.com |date=1993-02-26 |accessdate=2012-04-18}}

September 15 to November 13, 2010, Martin had a one-man show of his Black and White Paintings at Woodward Gallery in New York City.{{cite web|url=http://woodwardgallery.net/exhibitions/woman-black-and-white-paintings/|title=Knox Martin- Woman: Black and White Paintings |publisher=Woodwardgallery.net |date=2010-11-13 |accessdate=2012-04-18}}{{cite web|author=Robert Shuster |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-10-20/art/knox-martin-at-woodward-gallery-robert-wilson-at-paula-cooper-charlotte-schulz-at-smack-mellon/ |title=Knox Martin at Woodward Gallery, Best in Show by Robert Shuster, Village Voice, October 20, 2010 |publisher=Villagevoice.com |date=2010-10-20 |accessdate=2012-04-18}}{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=k5AtOlxwPY0|title=YouTube Video: Knox Martin Women Black and White at WOODWARD GALLERY by James Kalm|website=YouTube}}

October 6, 2012 to April 6, 2013, Martin had a solo exhibition of recent paintings, SHE,[http://www.justpaint.org/knox-martin-at-the-sam-adele-golden-gallery/ Just Paint article: Knox Martin at the Sam & Adele Golden Gallery] at the Sam & Adele Golden Gallery at Golden Artist Colors in New Berlin, New York.[https://www.thesagg.org/2012/09/13/1000/ SAGG Press Release-Knox Martin]

September 13 to October 26, 2013 saw the Knox Martin Exhibition SHE at the LGTripp Gallery in Philadelphia.[http://www.lgtrippgallery.com/2013/09/knox-martin-exhibition/ Knox Martin Exhibition SHE at LGTripp Gallery]

On November 14, 2016, France conferred the insignia of the Legion of Honour on Martin for his contribution to the liberation of France during World War II.[https://vimeo.com/191862925 2016 Veterans Day Ceremony]

From May 2 to June 1, 2019, Martin had a solo show, Knox Martin: Radical Structures, at Hollis Taggart Galleries in New York City.[https://www.hollistaggart.com/exhibitions/8-knox-martin-radical-structures/ Knox Martin: Radical Structures][https://wsimag.com/art/53510-knox-martin Knox Martin, Wall Street Journal International Magazine, May 2, 2019][https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=rgnXQGJBie4&feature=emb_logo YouTube Video: Knox Martin Radical Structures at Hollis Taggart] by James Kalm

October 18 to December 7, 2019, Martin had a solo show, Knox Martin: New York 1962-2019, at Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art in Houston, Texas.[http://nancylittlejohnfineart.com/exhibitions/knox-martin/ Knox Martin: New York 1962-2019][https://glasstire.com/events/2019/10/03/knox-martin-new-york-1962-2019/ Knox Martin: New York 1962-2019, Glasstire, October 4, 2019]

July 18 to October 11, 2020, Martin had a solo museum exhibition, "Knox Martin: Living Legend",[https://arlingtonmuseum.org/news/arlington-museum-of-art-reopens-with-knox-martin-living-legend/ Knox Martin: Living Legend at the Arlington Museum of Art] at the Arlington Museum of Art in Arlington, Texas.[https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/arlington-museum-of-art-reopens-with-show-by-knox-martin-11930283/ Arlington Museum of Art Reopens with Show by Knox Martin][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AczN3tC6zXU/ YouTube Video: KNOX MARTIN: LIVING LEGEND at the Arlington Museum of Art]

April 3 to May 1, 2021, Martin had a solo show, Knox Martin: Red and Black, at Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art in Houston, Texas.[http://nancylittlejohnfineart.com/exhibitions/knox-martin-2/ Knox Martin: Red and Black][https://glasstire.com/events/2021/04/06/knox-martin-red-black/ Knox Martin: Red and Black, Glasstire, April 6, 2021][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRNwfNZGzQg/ YouTube Video: Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art Presents | Knox Martin's "Red and Black"]

July 8 to August 6, 2021, Martin had a solo show, Knox Martin: Homage to Goya, at Hollis Taggart Galleries in New York City.[https://www.hollistaggart.com/exhibitions/117-knox-martin-homage-to-goya/ Knox Martin: Homage to Goya]

January 6 to February 5, 2022, Martin had a solo show, Knox Martin: Garden of Time, at Hollis Taggart Galleries in New York City.[https://www.hollistaggart.com/exhibitions/145-knox-martin-garden-of-time/ Knox Martin: Garden of Time]

Knox Martin was represented by Hollis Taggart Galleries.[https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/hollis-taggart-knox-martin-12626/ Hollis Taggart Now Represents Knox Martin, ArtNews, May 23, 2019]

Martin died on May 15, 2022, at the age of 99.{{cite web |title=Knox Martin 2/12/1923 – 5/15/2022 |url=https://www.facebook.com/nancylittlejohnfineart/posts/1058526688345691 |website=Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art on Facebook |access-date=18 May 2022}}{{cite web |title=Knox Martin |url=https://www.artsy.net/artist/knox-martin |website=Artsy |access-date=18 May 2022}}{{cite web |title=Knox Martin |url=http://www.artnet.com/artists/knox-martin/ |website=Artnet |access-date=18 May 2022}}{{cite web |title=American painter Knox Martin has died aged 99 |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/05/23/abstract-expressionist-painter-knox-martin-has-died-aged-99/ |website=The Art Newspaper |date=23 May 2022 |access-date=29 November 2022}}{{cite web |title=Artist Knox Martin Dies at 99 |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/knox-martin-dead-yayoi-kusama-louis-vuitton-morning-links-1234629782/|website=ArtNews |date=24 May 2022 |access-date=29 November 2022}}

{{reflist}}

• Marika Herskovic, [http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/50666793&tab=holdings New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists], (New York School Press, 2000.) {{ISBN|0-9677994-0-6}}
• Irving Sandler, [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/69650842 From Avant-Garde to Pluralism: An On-The-Spot History], (Hard Press Editions, 2006.) {{ISBN|1889097683}}

• [http://www.knoxmartin.com Knox Martin website]
• [http://www.artnet.com/artists/knox-martin/biography/ Knox Martin - Artnet]
• [http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-knox-martin-16190 Knox Martin Oral History Interview, Smithsonian Archives of American Art]
• [http://www.publicartfund.org/view/exhibitions/5967_venus Public Art Fund: Venus]
• [https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/the-whaling-wall-by-knox-martin Knox Martin - The Whaling Wall]

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Category:1923 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:20th-century American male artists

Category:20th-century American painters

Category:20th-century American sculptors

Category:21st-century American painters

Category:Abstract expressionist artists

Category:American male painters

Category:American muralists

Category:Painters from New York City

Category:Art Students League of New York alumni

Category:Art Students League of New York faculty

Category:American art educators

Category:American male sculptors

Category:People from Salem, Virginia

Category:Sculptors from New York (state)

Category:Military personnel from New York City

Category:United States Coast Guard personnel of World War II