Artist Dates: 1902-1988
Painting Title: Reflections at Cape May
Painting Date: Undated
Medium: Oil on Artist Board Signature: Signed Lower Right
Provenance: Private Collection
Condition: Excellent
Size: Unframed 17 x 23 Framed 26 x 30 Frame Condition: Antique Reproduction
Artist Best Price: $124,750
Offered At: $8,000
Besides studying with his elder brother Antonio also studied with Albert Jean Adolph at La France Institute, and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Graphic Sketch Club, and Spring Garden Institute in Philadelphia. Adolph had been a student of Jean Leon Gerome in Paris and schooled Martino in the great tradition, a la Eakins who was in Paris at that time. In addition to this strong background, Martino also absorbed the light, color and atmosphere of Impressionism through Redfield and Schofield.
Antonio and Frank, sometimes accompanied by Giovanni, worked en pleine air from Manayunk, a hilly mill town along the Schuylkill River to New Hope in Bucks County. Early in his career he decided to concentrate on landscapes, and painted along the Darby Creek and later focused on the upper Delaware River. Later he did a broader range of East coast subjects, gradually developing his personal style of solid, simplified compositions in rich tone and color. Martino lived in Newtown Square until 1971, when he moved to Thousand Oaks, California. There he painted west coast landscapes and seascapes in the Santa Barbara and Westlake Village areas. Much lighter and brighter than his Manayunk canvases, these too won many awards. He painted until a few months before his death in 1988 [this is the correct date].
Over time Martino shaped and aesthetic fusion of impressionism tempered with fauvism and most of all a geometric impulse that is apparent in many of his most successful pieces. Reflections at Cape May is one of the best of a series of small harbor works done along the east coast through Maine, and shows not only the geometric style but also the brilliance of Martino’s eye. Here one sees the vertical geometry working to align the very principle of the interchange of sea and shore. The hulls of the small boats become inverted roofs and a universe of rectangular windows serves to mimic the reflective power of the water itself. We think this is a little piece of genius at work and the color harmony encloses all.
