Car Lights in Eltham 1953
Oil on linen stretched over masonite
71.8 x 100.5 cm
Signed and dated
Provenance: Estate of Max Martin, by descent
Literature: No Singing in Gum Trees: The honest life of Max Martin by Jeremy Hill, Wakefield Press, 2023, illustrated pages 116-117
Car Lights in Eltham (1953) is a good example of Martin’s rejoicing in the work of artists he admired. Don Lock remembers seeing it being painted in The Little Studio at the Martins’ home in Bible Street, Eltham; he recalled Martin’s explaining that he would wait up at night until he saw the lights of his Morgan car returning, having lent it to Cal who had presumably used its charms to advantage.
… The dynamic feature of Martin’s painting followed (Jean) Metzinger’s notion that multiple viewpoints within the work could be validly resolved by the viewer within a structure of symmetry. The chromatic richness, variety, balance, and arrangement are impressive. The pictorial field is wide and expansive, it opens up endlessly. The swirling curving lines and shapes, and the overlapping planes, are cleverly held together by clear points of reference, especially the lights and beams in the upper centre of the canvas. Refer page 118
Item #6865
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