Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904) American Painter ~ Blog of an Art Admirer

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Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904) American Painter

Landscape Painting by American painting Martin Johnson Heade

Hayfields a Clear Day, 1871

Newburyport Meadows, 1871

The artist was renowned for his marsh landscapes, seascapes, paintings of tropical birds, and still lifes.
He was born in Lumberville, Pennsylvania, and spent his childhood there. His family ran a store and post office, and the family name spelled Heed.
Heade received his first art training from the folk artist Edward Hicks.
After traveling abroad and living in Rome for two years, Heade exhibited his first work at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1841. Since 1848, he had been exhibiting regularly, after another trip to Europe, he became an itinerant artist until he settled in New York in 1859. Heade took a studio in a building that housed many of the famous Hudson River School artists of the time. He was a close friend with Frederic Edwin Church.

Seascape Painting by American painting Martin Johnson Heade

Approaching Thunder Storm, 1859

The Stranded Boat, 1863

In 1863-1864 Heade travelled to Brazil, he painted over forty works of hummingbirds. Heade returned to the tropics twice, journeying to Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama, and Jamaica.
Today Heade is best known for his paintings of the New England coastal salt marsh, in which the artist focused on the depiction of light and atmosphere, so some historians characterized Heade as a Luminist painter. In 1883 the painter moved to Florida where he created numerous still lifes of southern flowers, particularly magnolia blossoms laid on velvet.

Heade was not a famous artist during his time, and was nearly forgotten after his death. The new appreciation of his work sparked around World War II, and art historians came to consider him as one of the most important American artists of his generation.