LOT   /  Objects of Our Affection - February 2020  / 

1052a

Introduction to William Forrest Martin

Currency:USD Category:Art Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:2.00 - 3.00 USD
Introduction to William Forrest Martin
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Art Collectors, Designers, Investors and Dealers should take notice of the work of relatively unknown, deceased Texan artist, William Forrest Martin, as this may be the last time a large group of his work will be offered at public auction. It is doubtful this will be the last time Martin’s artwork will be spotlighted, however. It is not often a collection of original works by an unknown artist of this caliber surface offering art lovers the opportunity to own a masterpiece never-before offered at public sale.

HWAC was honored to be chosen by the heirs of Sarah Sweetwater, Martin’s closest friend, to introduce his work to a National audience for the first time. Since then we’ve presented an incredible collection of William Forrest Martin’s in a series of sales that began in 2018. All the pieces we’ve offered came from Sarah Sweetwater, a Nevada artist who made the collection the focus of her private museum in Elko, Nevada until she died of cancer. Sarah Sweetwater knew long ago what the bidders are just now realizing, that her friend, William Forrest Martin, was destined to make a lasting contribution through his art. During the first two sales of Martin’s collection, only a handful of collectors with a highly developed appreciation for raw artistic talent bid on his paintings amongst very little competition. Each offering, however, drew a slighter larger audience and little by little his pieces sold to a small, but diverse group of buyers. We soon noticed that few of the buyers bought only one piece, and it became obvious that Martin’s art was selling to serious collectors with an eye for art. By December of 2019, Billy Martin’s talent caught the attention of some world-class art professionals and nearly every piece we offered ran away in frenzied bidding. It appears that Sarah Sweetwater’s passionate mission to showcase Martin’s talent and her wish for the art world to recognize her friend as a masterful expressionist is finally becoming a reality. Ironically, neither Sarah, nor William Forrest Martin lived to see this day.

Below is a brief summary of the artist’s life. HWAC would like to thank the family of Sarah Sweetwater for allowing us to help achieve Sarah’s mission to honor the memory of her friend, the artist, William Forrest Martin.

William “Billy” Forrest Martin was born January 6, 1942 and grew up in Sweetwater, Texas, the son of a violently abusive man who committed suicide after beating Billy and his brother for years. He earned his BA in art and biology with a chemistry minor, and a Masters Degree and Ph.D in zoology from the University of Texas in Austin. He was the selected recipient of a Ford Foundation Fellowship to Colombia, South America, where he researched the acoustical communication in frogs in the rain forest.

After his studies William traveled the world before settling back down in Sweetwater. Back in his hometown he found employment managing a shelter for train hobos and the displaced members of Society. Billy Martin was a highly intelligent man and rumored to be a member of the Menses Society, but he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, a disorder known to sometimes be the result of severe abuse in childhood, and a struggle he may have shared with some of the people he helped at the shelter.

Once back in Texas William Martin began researching and painting the plants and animals of Nolan County with an emphasis on learning the relations among the forms of life, the soil and parent rocks. Martin always painted on recycled materials and used whatever he could find as his canvas, from particle board to metal scrap, which gives his work a raw, authentic quality mirrored in the artist. Any framed pieces were framed after his death, most likely by Sarah Sweetwater, who cherished the collection Martin left to her when he died. His art, according to Sarah, reflects his interest in the natural world, as well as his world travels. Often artists with Martin’s psychiatric disorder create as a means of expressing their confused inner world and the different personalities trapped within. This may also be true for William Forrest Martin judging from the vast differences in style he exhibits from one piece to the next, and the evidence that he often painted one picture on top of another, reusing his materials over and over again.

Martin reached age 51 before the first major exhibit of his work in Austin, Texas at the Windows to the Past Gallery. To his admirers, Martin’s paintings invoke emotion and express an intensity of feeling that is sometimes palpable. HWAC’s art expert described his “Lost Musician” piece as “Picasso-esque”, while his landscapes and floral pieces with muted pastel colors were described by an experienced collector who bid on several pieces as “reminiscent of Rembrandt”.

But these are not the things most remembered about Martin by those closest to this intriguing man. Mostly William Forrest Martin, or “Billy” was remembered by those who loved him for his giving nature and kindness towards anyone in need, as were the closing words written by his friend, Sarah Sweetwater.

William Forrest Martin died at the age of 60 in the year 2002 of a heart attack, which he predicted would be the cause of his passing prior to his death.
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