On 26th January 2024 would have been Martina Thomas’s 100 birthday. To celebrate her milestone birthday year event, I decided back in September 2023 to make a start on curating and eventually publishing her Catalogue Raisonee, cataloguing and photographing over 585 of her oil paintings, watercolour studies and drawings. Eight months later I think I have finished it, ready for this website to be created and uploaded, for everyone to explore and enjoy.
The 585 catalogued artworks have been curated into separate subject matter subheadings to make searching easier. Each has been given a unique identification number, eg CRMT123 and all the current owners have been asked to write their particular number(s) on the back of the artworks. There are 33 more artworks where this is not possible at the moment, as their whereabouts is unknown. However, there is either a 35mm photo print or exhibition catalogue listing of each. I hope that in time the current owner or finder will contact me and have it listed and be given a CRMT ID number. I ever hopeful new examples of her work are found that have not been seen before and these too can be added, later.
She was committed artist and enjoyed the challenge of creating artwork. Her enthusiasm began whilst she was at boarding school, in the 1930’s. Later, she would often reminisce of her time at St Martin’s School of Art during the 1940’s, enjoying her time spent drawing and painting and developing her unique style of applying paint. This enthusiasm continued for the next 45 years, until she was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer in 1994. She died in March 1995 at the age of 71.
Curating this Catalogue Raisonne has been a wonderful journey of discovery for me. I thought I knew a lot about her and her work, but quickly realised how little I knew. Many questions I had have now been answered and now regret that I didn’t ask more when she was alive. I trust as you explore this website that you find it a rewarding and enlightening experience, as well.
At various times over the past forty years several exhibition catalogues and inventory lists have been created when needed by other people. Each had its own individual numbering system ideal for its original use, but not suitable for this Catalogue Raisonne. This will explain why a painting you own might have a small number sticker on the front of the frame or an MT123 number written on the back of the painting; or there are no numbers at all.
I have created a new numbering system, eg, CRMT123 etc, for all found artworks. The subject matter of each painting is grouped together under subheadings. Some subheadings containing many examples of her favourite subject matters and I have grouped them on a timeline of around 1970, before and after this date.
To help you find a painting or its CRMT number, look through the menu on the Homepage and find the appropriate subheading. Look carefully at your painting. Have you spotted a hidden piece of fruit in the composition, etc? What you thought was a Still Life: Flower Painting is actual a Still Life: Flower and Fruit painting. This will narrow down your search and save you some time.
Only Martina Thomas knows how many paintings she painted and what ones she sold or chose to destroy during her lifetime. She was not a great record keeper and curating lists not something she bothered to do. Painting was much more important.
If you have a painting in front of you with no CRMT number written on the back and cannot match up what you see with a description in the Catalogue Raisonne, please check the “Lost Painting photo list” on the homepage menu. It might be there? If it is, please email me using the email address on the contact page. I will give it a CRID number then add into the Late Entries section, creating an appropriate new title for it. I will then reply to you and ask you to add the CRID number on the back. The Website can then be updated adding your photo and CRID number.
If it is not in the ‘Lost Paintings’ section, then you might have discovered a new painting not seen before. An exciting discovery. Please take a photo of it and email it using the contact page email address. We will check that it is a painting by Martina Thomas and if so, then add it to the Late Entries section and give it a CRID number. I will then reply to you and ask you to add the CRID number on the back. The Website can then be updated adding your photo and CRID number.
It was whilst looking through the archived Royal Academy Summer Exhibition catalogues for exhibitions in the 1950’s, on online, I was checking to see which ones of Martina’s paintings were hung and how they were described. To my surprise, I noticed that there are in fact two M. Thomas’s artists listed. There was no mistake. There were two women artists who had the same initial and surname, M. Thomas, at the time and they are not related to each other. To clarify:-
Martina Thomas, (1924-1995). my mother, lived in Wellfield Avenue, in Muswell Hill, N10. She studied at St Martin’s School of Art in the 1940’s.
Margaret Thomas, (1916-2016) no relation, lived in Highgate, N6.
She studied at Sidcup School of Art and Slade School of Fine Art in the 1930’s.
Both painted similar subject matters, especially bunches of flowers in a vase, on a tablecloth. However, their individual painting style was quite different and should be noted.
I do trust that this Catalogue Raisonne contents will be kept safe in one form or another as an archive, for many generations to come. I hope it will be used by many interested individuals, academic institutions and auction salerooms as required.
For the next twenty years or so, I am happy to continue to be a curator for her artworks, amending and listing as required. Who will be responsible after that has yet to be decided.
For me to be able to complete this Catalogue Raisonne, it was only possible with the help and support of the many friends and collectors who have examples of her work hung on their walls. Without them emailing me photos and dimensions etc, many would have been left out.
A special thank you goes to Christine for helping me many times with double checking names and numbers and proof-reading the written content. Toby for teaching me many useful IT software shortcuts. To Eric, Martina’s husband, my father, for photographing 106 of her paintings back in 1998 and starting a photo album containing 35mm film prints. Without this photo archive album there are many paintings that I did not know existed. These are listed in the ‘Lost Painting” section. Hopefully one day they will be found and can be added into the Catalogue Raisonne, as Late Entries.
Finally. The experienced IT guys at ITC for manipulating current IT software need to create this wonderful website.