Portrait of Martin Johnson Heade

Martin Johnson Heade Painting Reproductions 3 of 8

1819-1904

American Hudson River School Painter

Martin Johnson Heade (August 11, 1819 - September 4, 1904) was a prolific American painter known for his salt marsh landscapes, seascapes, portraits of tropical birds, and still lifes. His painting style and subject matter, while derived from the romanticism of the time, is regarded by art historians as a significant departure from that of his peers.

Stylistic classification
Art historians have come to disagree with the common view that Heade is a Hudson River School painter, a view given wide currency by Heade's inclusion in a landmark exhibition of Hudson River School landscapes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1987. The leading Heade scholar and author of Heade's Catalogue raisonne, Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., wrote some years after the 1987 Hudson River School exhibition that "...other scholars myself included have increasingly come to doubt that Heade is most usefully seen as standing within that school." According to the Heade catalogue raisonne, only around 40 percent of his paintings were landscapes. The remaining majority were still lifes, paintings of birds, and portraits, subjects unrelated to the Hudson River School. Of Heade's landscapes, perhaps only 25 percent were painted of traditional Hudson River School subject matter. Heade had less interest in topographically accurate views than the Hudson River painters, and instead focused on mood and the effects of light. Stebbins writes, "If the paintings of the shore as well as the more conventional compositions...might lead one to think of Heade as a Hudson River School painter, the [marsh scenes] make it clear that he was not."

Childhood and early career
Heade was born in Lumberville, Pennsylvania, a small hamlet along the Delaware River in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and spent his childhood there. His family owned the building in which is now The Lumberville Store and Post Office, the village's sole general store. Historians believe he received his first art training from the folk artist Edward Hicks, who lived in the area. By 1839 Heade had painted his first portraits and two years later had exhibited his first work at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philaldephia. Through the mid-1850s, Heade made his living as a travelling portrait painter.

Transition to landscape painting
Around 1857 Heade became interested in landscape painting, partly through his meeting of established artists John Frederick Kensett and Benjamin Champney in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Heade moved to New York City and took a studio in a building that housed many of the famous Hudson River School artists of the time. He became socially and professionally acquainted with them, and struck up a particularly close friendship with Frederic Edwin Church.

Tropical subjects
Heade's interest in the tropics was piqued at least partly by the impact of Church's monumental painting Heart of the Andes (1859), now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Heade travelled to Brazil from 1863 to 1864 to paint an extensive series of small works, eventually numbering over forty, depicting hummingbirds. He intended the series for a planned book titled "The Gems of Brazil", but the book was never published due to financial difficulty and Heade's concerns about the quality of the reproductions. Heade nevertheless returned to the tropics twice, in 1866 journeying to Nicaragua, and in 1870 to Colombia, Panama, and Jamaica. He continued to paint romantic works of tropical birds and lush foliage into his late career.

Salt marsh scenes
Heade's primary interest in landscape, and the works for which he is perhaps best known today, was the New England coastal salt marsh. Contrary to typical Hudson River School displays of scenic mountains, valleys, and waterfalls, Heade's marsh landscapes avoided depictions of grandeur. They focused instead on the horizontal expanse of subdued scenery, and employed repeating motifs that included small haystacks and diminutive figures. Heade also concentrated on the depiction of light and atmosphere in his marsh scenes. These and similar works have led some historians to characterize Heade as a Luminist painter. In 1883 Heade moved to Saint Augustine, Florida and took as his primary landscape subject the surrounding subtropical marshland.

Still Lifes
During his later years in St. Augustine Heade also painted numerous still lifes of southern flowers, especially magnolia blossoms laid on velvet. This was a continuation of an interest in still life that Heade had developed since the 1860s. His earlier works in this genre typically depict a display of flowers arranged in an ornate vase of small or medium size on a cloth-covered table. Heade was the only 19th century American artist to create such an extensive body of work in both still life and landscape.

Recognition and museum collections
Heade was not a famous artist during his time, and for much of the first part of the 20th century was nearly forgotten. A re-awakening of interest in American 19th century art around World War II sparked new appreciation of his work, and art historians have come to consider him as one of the most important American artists of his generation. His works are in most major American museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, which owns the nation's outstanding collection of his works, including about thirty paintings as well as numerous drawings and sketchbooks; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. In 1999 and 2000 he was the subject of a major exhibit organized by Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., that travelled from the Museum of Fine Arts to the National Gallery of Art, ending at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In 2004, Heade was honored with a stamp from the U.S. Postal Service. As Stebbins notes in his writings, Heade's work has also been copied and forged extensively, though it should be noted that since Heade was not popular during his lifetime there were few contemporaries that emulated his work, so 20th century copies are readily apparent as fakes since it takes oil paint decades to dry out and harden.

174 Martin Johnson Heade Paintings

Two Magnolia Blossoms in a Glass Vase, c.1890 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Two Magnolia Blossoms in a Glass Vase c.1890

Oil Painting
$990
SKU: HMJ-3731
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: 61 x 38 cm
Morris Museum of Art, Georgia, USA

Red Roses in a Crystal Goblet, c.1883/00 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Red Roses in a Crystal Goblet c.1883/00

Oil Painting
$803
SKU: HMJ-3732
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Two Magnolias and a Bud on Teal Velvet, c.1885/95 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Two Magnolias and a Bud on Teal Velvet c.1885/95

Oil Painting
$1045
SKU: HMJ-3733
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Giant Magnolias, c.1885/95 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Giant Magnolias c.1885/95

Oil Painting
$1136
SKU: HMJ-3734
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
R. W. Norton Art Gallery, Shreveport, USA

Magnolias on a Blue Velvet Cloth, c.1885/95 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Magnolias on a Blue Velvet Cloth c.1885/95

Oil Painting
$1056
SKU: HMJ-3735
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Orchids and a Beetle, c.1885/95 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Orchids and a Beetle c.1885/95

Oil Painting
$819
SKU: HMJ-3736
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Cherokee Roses in a Glass on Gold Velvet Plush, 1886 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Cherokee Roses in a Glass on Gold Velvet Plush 1886

Oil Painting
$754
SKU: HMJ-3737
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: 50.8 x 30.5 cm
Private Collection

Magnolia (Magnoliae Grandiflorae), 1888 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Magnolia (Magnoliae Grandiflorae) 1888

Oil Painting
$1056
Canvas Print
$50.70
SKU: HMJ-3738
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

The Magnolia Flower, 1888 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

The Magnolia Flower 1888

Oil Painting
$1045
SKU: HMJ-3739
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: 38.4 x 61.3 cm
Timken Museum of Art, San Diego, USA

The Cherokee Rose, 1889 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

The Cherokee Rose 1889

Oil Painting
$547
Canvas Print
$50.70
SKU: HMJ-3740
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Cherokee Roses on a Purple Velvet Cloth, 1894 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Cherokee Roses on a Purple Velvet Cloth 1894

Oil Painting
$635
Canvas Print
$50.70
SKU: HMJ-3741
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: 25.7 x 46 cm
Private Collection

The Great Florida Sunset, 1887 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

The Great Florida Sunset 1887

Oil Painting
$1538
Canvas Print
$50.70
SKU: HMJ-3742
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: 137.8 x 243.7 cm
Private Collection

The Great Florida Marsh, 1886 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

The Great Florida Marsh 1886

Oil Painting
$1565
SKU: HMJ-3743
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, USA

View from Fern-Tree Walk, Jamaica, 1887 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

View from Fern-Tree Walk, Jamaica 1887

Oil Painting
$1548
SKU: HMJ-3744
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
Manoogian Collection, Washington, USA

Orchid and Hummingbird near Mountain Waterfall, 1902 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Orchid and Hummingbird near Mountain Waterfall 1902

Oil Painting
$941
Canvas Print
$50.70
SKU: HMJ-3745
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: 38.2 x 51.5 cm
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid, Spain

Hummingbird Perched on an Orchid Plat, 1901 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Hummingbird Perched on an Orchid Plat 1901

Oil Painting
$952
Canvas Print
$50.70
SKU: HMJ-3746
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: 51.4 x 38.7 cm
Private Collection

Hummingbirds and Apple Blossoms, c.1865 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Hummingbirds and Apple Blossoms c.1865

Oil Painting
$711
Canvas Print
$50.70
SKU: HMJ-3747
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: 32.4 x 28.6 cm
Private Collection

Ruby Throat of North America, 1865 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Ruby Throat of North America 1865

Oil Painting
$429
SKU: HMJ-3748
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Harbor Scene: Rio de Janeiro, 1865 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Harbor Scene: Rio de Janeiro 1865

Oil Painting
$649
SKU: HMJ-3749
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Newburyport Marshes: Approaching Storm, c.1871 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Newburyport Marshes: Approaching Storm c.1871

Oil Painting
$952
Canvas Print
$64.02
SKU: HMJ-3750
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: 38.7 x 76.5 cm
Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, USA

Apple Blossoms in a Vase, 1867 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Apple Blossoms in a Vase 1867

Oil Painting
$722
SKU: HMJ-3751
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Branch of Apple Blossoms against a Cloudy Sky, 1867 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Branch of Apple Blossoms against a Cloudy Sky 1867

Oil Painting
$735
SKU: HMJ-3752
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Rocky Shore, 1864 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

Rocky Shore 1864

Oil Painting
$972
SKU: HMJ-3753
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

The Brazilian Rain Forest, 1864 by Martin Johnson Heade | Painting Reproduction

The Brazilian Rain Forest 1864

Oil Painting
$1308
SKU: HMJ-3754
Martin Johnson Heade
Original Size: unknown
Rhode Island Museum of Art, Providence, USA

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