Joseph DeMartini
American (1896-1984)
Joseph DeMartini was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1896. The son of a fisherman, DeMartini’s primary education ended with grammar school. He moved to New York City where he studied art at the National Academy of Design with Leon Kroll and Ivan Olinsky, as well as at the Art Students League. Known for his paintings of interiors, cities, rivers, boats, and the coast, DeMartini often traveled to Monhegan Island to paint. He exhibited extensively, although at the end of his career he stopped showing his work in order to devote his time completely to painting. He displayed his work at numerous museums and galleries including the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1940-1953) where he won a gold medal in 1952, Art Institute of Chicago (1940-1942, 1944), Museum of Modern Art in New York City (1941-1943), Carnegie Institute (1941, 1943-1944), National Academy of Design (1947), Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. (1941-1953) and many others. He received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1951 and taught art at the University of Georgia from 1952-1953. DeMartini was an associate member of the National Academy of Design, a member of the Audubon Artists and the American Artists Congress.
DeMartini’s works can be found in museums, galleries, corporations, and private collections throughout the country, including in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, State Department in Washington, D.C., Pepsi-Cola Collection and the collection of IBM.
