La Tour de Collioure, c.1920
Signed lower right 'Henri Martin'
Oil on canvas
35 3/8 x 43 1/4 in, 90 x 110 cm
P R O V E N A N C E
Acquired directly from the artist in the 1920s
Private Collection, London
Hammer Galleries, New York
Private Collection, USA
L I T E R AT U R E
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity (duplicate)
signed by Cyrille Martin and dated 6 April 1998
While Martin renovated his home in Collioure, the artist
rented a temporary studio by the shore and was delighted
by the lively port filled with the bustle of everyday life.
La Tour de Collioure (p.16-17) and Collioure, le port de séchage
(p.14-15) were painted during this time and are of the same
enchanting view of the bay.
The canvases depict differing hours of day: La Tour de
Collioure is drenched in light from the midsummer sun, and
Collioure, le port de séchage portrays the gentle glow of late
afternoon. The boats by the shore and the local fishermen
tending to their nets encapsulates the serenity of life in the
town. Long shadows in dusky purple hues are cast by the
figures in a mosaic of interlocking colours. In these scenes
Martin combines the geometric structures of village homes
and fishing boats with the sloping hills of the Pyrenees in the
distance. This harmony between architectural and organic
forms, and the myriad of tones, dons the canvases with a
rhythmic syntax of line and pattern that is characteristic of
Martin's unique pictorial language.
