Antonio Pietro Martino (1902-1989)
Born April 13, 1902 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Antonio Martino was the son of an Italian immigrant stonecutter and mason. He exhibited an interest in art and drawing early in his life, and soon was attending art classes at the Graphic Sketch Club in South Philadelphia. It was at this Club that he found encouragement for his interest in drawing. Within two years Martino was taking evening classes at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Arts, and at the La France Art Institute. At the age of 15, he began to work as an apprentice at a Philadelphia lithographic firm, The Associated Artists. Later in life Martino worked for the family-owned commercial art firm, Martino Studios, working as a designer and calligrapher during the day and as an artist during the evenings and weekends.
As an artist, Martino experienced almost immediate success, taking part in his first exhibit at the age of 17; he was winning prizes, and having paintings accepted into the Academy of the Fine Arts by the age of 23. Throughout his 60-year career as an artist, Martino had numerous one-man shows and received over 80 awards in various competitions. His paintings are represented in over 25 permanent collections around the United States, including those at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the American Watercolor Society in New York and the Parrish Art Museum (on Long Island).
Martino’s early paintings are heavily impressionistic, capturing landscapes from New Hope and the Delaware River. He soon moved to painting the scenes that he is best known for: dark, rich landscape paintings of the town of Manayunk, near Philadelphia. Between the 1930′s and 1971, he enjoyed painting Manayunk with the light, color and atmosphere of impressionism and the solid forms of cubism or American Impressionism.
Martino lived in Newton Square, Pennsylvania until 1971 when he moved to California. West Coast landscapes and seascapes then became his subjects. He painted areas such as Westlake Village and Santa Barbara. These paintings capture small sailing crafts, waterfront scenes, and one-design sailboat regattas. As a continually striving artist, Martino’s style changed again – making these paintings lighter and brighter than his Manayunk scenes. Martino continued to paint up until a few months prior to his death in September 1988.