Martin Johnson Heade
(1819-1904)

Died aged c. 85

Martin Johnson Heade was born in 1819 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. His father, a prosperous farmer, encouraged him to paint. He worked as a portrait and genre painter early in his life, and later turned to painting landscapes, especially salt marshes. In 1883 he married, bought a house and settled in St. Augustine. He had a wealthy patron in Henry Flagler, who furnished Heade with a studio at his Ponce de Leon Hotel. Heade’s popularity and income declined as Flagler extended his railroad further south from St. Augustine and his hotel patrons continued with it. Martin Johnson Heade died in 1904. His work was largely overlooked until 1945, when a Museum of Modern Art exhibition included one of his paintings.

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Martin Johnson Heade (August 11, 1819 – September 4, 1904) was an American painter known for his salt marsh landscapes, seascapes, and depictions of tropical birds (such as hummingbirds), as well as lotus blossoms and other still lifes. His painting style and subject matter, while derived from the romanticism of the time, are regarded by art historians as a significant departure from those of his peers. Heade was born in Lumberville, Pennsylvania, the son of a storekeeper. He studied with Edward Hicks, and possibly with Thomas Hicks. His earliest works were produced during the 1840s and were chiefly portraits. He travelled to Europe several times as a young man, became an itinerant artist on American shores, and exhibited in Philadelphia in 1841 and New York in 1843. Friendships with artists of the Hudson River School led to an interest in landscape art. In 1863, he planned to publish a volume of Brazilian hummingbirds and tropical flowers, but the project was eventually abandoned. He travelled to the tropics several times thereafter, and continued to paint birds and flowers. Heade married in 1883 and moved to St. Augustine, Florida. His chief works from this period were Floridian landscapes and flowers, particularly magnolias laid upon velvet cloth. He died in 1904. His best known works are depictions of light and shadow upon the salt marshes of New England. Heade was not a widely known artist during his lifetime, but his work attracted the notice of scholars, art historians, and collectors during the 1940s. He quickly became recognized as a major American artist. Although often considered a Hudson River School artist, some critics and scholars take exception to this categorization. Heade's works are now in major museums and collections. His paintings are occasionally discovered in unlikely places such as garage sales and flea markets.

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