Private collection, United Kingdom
Jacques Martin-Ferrières was born in 1893 in Saint-Paul de Vence in South Eastern France into a family of artists, including his father Henri Martin, the famous pointillist. He began his formal training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, studying under Frederic Cormon and Ernest Laurent, but soon branched out from the academic conventions and restraints of the day.
Martin-Ferrières mostly painted still lifes and landscape scenes, especially enjoying paintings Winter landscapes from the 1950’s onwards. He exhibited regularly in Paris at the Salon des Artistes Français and was able to submit work without vetting. There he received an honourable mention in 1920, a silver medal in 1923, and a travel scholarship in 1924. In 1925, he received the national prize before finally being awarded a gold medal in 1928. He was also awarded The Legay-Lebrun prize (Prix de L’Institut). In 1965 he exhibited in Paris in an exhibition of Venetian landscapes and snow landscapes.
Despite his fathers strong influence in learning the pointillist technique, he became known for his use of thick impasto, applying the paint in layers which created a surface of great vitality and a wonderful basis for his experimentation with the effects of light.