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TIMOTHY MARTIN
Timothy Martin is an American fine artist known for his style of combining classic realism with surreal elements. Martin’s first “furniture” piece was a wingback chair he created for a Bucks County (PA) show in the ’80s along with several other furniture pieces, which have since become synonymous with his work.

Martin first gained recognition when Tiffany & Company selected his paintings for display in its Manhattan flagship on Fifth Avenue in 1992. A second invitation followed to display musical instrument paintings to coincide with the opening of the New York Philharmonic season. In all, Martin displayed at Tiffany’s four times.

Exhibitions
A noted London gallery owner saw Martin’s work in Tiffany’s windows and signed him for her Knightsbridge gallery. A 1993 article in the World of Interiors covering his London opening called Martin, “the Arcimboldo of the chair world.” Martin began to attract the attention of publishers and licensors including Caspari International, Bombay Company, ModernArt, followed later by Winn-Devon and others. Today his work is licensed through Bridgeman Images in London.

In 1998, Martin's work was featured in Macy's Flower Show on Herald Square in New York City, where his painting Daffodil Settee made its first appearance, later named Editor's Choice by U.S. Art magazine.

The Phoenix Art Group invited Martin to join its annual “Inizio” show for interior designers, art galleries and select patrons. The Phoenix Art Group employed a stable of artists to run its business endeavors with Martin being the first “outside” artist invited to participate in the annual Inizio show. Martin’s paintings sold out and several commissions and reproduction contracts followed.

In 2000, Martin was commissioned by Steinway & Sons to paint an actual one-of-a-kind baby grand piano, the first painter in nearly 70 years commissioned by the piano makers. Following a nationwide tour, "Summertime Piano" is now part of a private collection in Texas.

At the invitation of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Martin mounted a one-man show in the Garden Gallery at the renowned Philadelphia Flower Show. A total of 60 paintings by Martin aligned with the show’s theme of Enchanted Spring. Martin was invited to return to the Philadelphia Flower Show in 2008 to exhibit paintings with musical instruments and themes to complement the show’s Jazz it Up motif. Martin also exhibited at Atlanta's Southeastern Flower Show, at the Lewis Ginter Gardens in Richmond, Virginia and at Omaha's Lauritzen Botanical Gardens, all by invitation.

From March through July 2009, a one-man show of Timothy Martin’s original paintings were on exhibition at the Mona Bismarck Foundation. His exhibition, “The Naturalist: paintings by Timothy Martin” is one of the few the Foundation devoted to a living artist, and broke Foundation attendance records.

The following year, Martin was commissioned by the global luxury fashion house, Hermès, to display artwork for its flagship store on the rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré to celebrate the holidays. In addition to his other paintings, Martin created a 10-foot by 15-foot original oil painting — L'Arche de Noël, now in the Hermés family collection.

Education & Training
Timothy Martin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from Trenton State, now the College of New Jersey. During his undergraduate years, he studied at the Stenson Instituto in Florence, Italy. During his time in Europe, conducted independent studies at art institutions in Rome, Venice, Sienna, Munich, Paris, Brussels and elsewhere.

For the first seven years following his graduation, Martin taught art in New Jersey. He became a professional artist in 1992 and was awarded a 1994-1995 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship grant for his artwork.

Personal life
Timothy James Martin was born in 1948 in Flushing, Queens, New York, the second oldest of what would become a family of seven children of Pauline [Siedlecki] Martin and Thomas Martin, a career Navy man whose postings moved the family from New York to Wisconsin to Rhode Island to New Jersey.

Being a “Navy brat,” moving from school to school on a regular basis, and suffering from undiagnosed dyslexia did not make him a stellar student, but his ability to draw, paint, to create, was remarked upon from earliest childhood.

By adolescence, Martin’s father validated his son’s love of art, bringing home a large chunk of walnut for him to carve, proving Martin’s aptitude for three-dimensional as well as two-dimensional artistic expression. He sculpted mockingbirds and snapdragons in homage to both his father and his Polish grandmother Bobcia, another central figure in his early life. Martin and his siblings spent summers on his grandparents’ farm in New Jersey and with his grandmother’s guidance developed his lifelong appreciation for nature.

In the 90s he bought a condemned 1816 Greek revival town home in Lambertville, N.J. which he fully restored. He mounted a show in the empty house and premiered a dozen of his first furniture artworks. He called the show “Fully Furnished.”

He married Janis Burenga, a public relations executive and agency owner, in 1991.