Timothy Martin is a classically trained painter and sculptor who first gained widespread recognition when he was selected by Tiffany & Company to display artwork in its Manhattan flagship on Fifth Avenue. Since that time Martin’s renown has spread internationally with the publication of dozens of reproductions of his charming work, as well as exhibitions from New York to Paris.
Special thanks ot Ruth Stiff, Curator of Exhibitions, Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, U.K. for her interviews from which the podcasts are taken.
From March 27 through July 10, 2009, Timothy Martin’s original paintings will be on exhibition at the Mona Bismarck Foundation in its Paris Cultural Center located opposite the Eiffel Tower. Created in the 1980s by the American philanthropist, Mona Bismarck, the Foundation offers an eclectic program of exhibitions and seminars, traditionally free to the public, focusing on Franco-American cultural exchange and reflecting the late Countess Mona Bismarck’s tastes and interests. Martin’s exhibition, The Naturalist: paintings by Timothy Martin, is one of the few the foundation has devoted to a living artist. (Learn more about Countess Bismarck and the foundation at www.monabismarck.org.)
In March 2006, Martin transformed the Philadelphia Flower Show’s Garden Gallery into the Enchanted Spring of his imagination with images of flora and fauna, fox and fowl morphed into furniture. Many of the original paintings on display at the show were among Martin’s newest work ranging from chairs fashioned from topiary to a tiger lily settee on which rests a fitting feline. Based on crowd reaction at the 2006 show, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society invited Martin to return to the 2008 Philadelphia Flower Show, this time to exhibit paintings with musical instruments and themes to complement the show’s Jazz it Up motif.
In 2000, Martin was commissioned by the venerable Steinway & Sons to paint an actual one-of-a-kind baby grand piano, the first painter in nearly 70 years commissioned by the piano makers. Following a nationwide tour, the "Summertime Piano" is now part of a private collection in Texas.
Martin has also exhibited at Richmond, Virginia’s Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, at Omaha, Nebraska’s Lauritzen Garden and was Show Artist for the 2008 Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition, Martin’s work was featured in 1998 Macy’s windows during its widely acclaimed annual Flower Show on Herald Square in New York City.
Martin’s unique vision began with a wingback chair he created for a Bucks County show in the ’80s; enthusiastic response led to the distinctive work that has become his signature style, a style that defies art world labels. Martin, who studied in Italy, paints as a classic realist - landscapes and still lifes of another age can be glimpsed in his work—and yet some might describe the work as surreal, but the absence of menace makes his a genre unto itself.
Timothy Martin’s images have been licensed by The Bombay Company, Caspari International and a number of fine art publishers. Martin 1994-1995 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship grantee.
Timothy Martin is a classically trained painter and sculptor who first gained widespread recognition when he was selected by Tiffany & Company to display artwork in its Manhattan flagship on Fifth Avenue. Since that time Martin’s renown has spread internationally with the publication of dozens of reproductions of his charming work, as well as exhibitions from New York to Paris.