Keith Morrow Martin was born in
Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1911.[5][2] He studied fine arts at the
University of Nebraska, graduating in the class of 1933.[6] During his studies, Martin would win a state-wide poster contest in 1930.[7] After graduating, Martin would attend the
Art Institute of Chicago with his childhood friend and fellow artist
Charles Rain, with both of them traveling to a variety of European cities such as
Vienna,
Paris, and
Berlin in the 1930s-1940s.[8] Martin served in the army as a camouflager and was discharged in the autumn of 1945.[1][6]
Keith Martin's art style shifted throughout his career, beginning in a surrealist style during the 1930s-1940s and changing to abstraction in the 1950s.[10]
In 1935, Keith Martin had a solo exhibition at the
Julien Levy gallery in
New York City, an early center for surrealist and modern art.[11] In 1936 and 1937, Martin designed costumes for
ballets performed by the
School of American Ballet.[4][12] Martin also participated in a show in
Minneapolis in 1947 alongside other Nebraskan artists, including
Dwight Kirsch and
Gladys M. Lux.[13] Later this same year, Martin's paintingThe Tragedy of Hamlet would go on display at an exhibition at the University of Nebraska.[13] In 1956, Martin had another exhibition in New York, this time at the Duveen-Graham Gallery.[14]
The Museum of Modern Art has a collection of Martin's ballet costume drawings.[4]
The Smithsonian American Art Museum has five of Martin's artworks: Witch Box (1964), Yellow Lily #1 (1971), Disaster Area (1970), Dried Leaves (1965), and Altar Table (1966).[2]
The National Gallery of Art has several works by Martin, including drawings and a collage.[3]
In 2019, Keith Martin's costume designs for the ballets Harlequin for President and Show Piece were featured in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art about
Lincoln Kirstein, a co-founder of the
New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet.[4]
^Sheldon Museum of Art; Ruud, Brandon K.; Nosan, Gregory, eds. (2014). Painting from the collection of the Sheldon Museum of Art. American transnationalism: perspectives from the Sheldon Museum of Art. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
ISBN978-0-8032-4869-4.
^Balder, Alton Parker (1955). Six Maryland Artists: A Study In Drawings (1st ed.). Baltimore, Maryland: Balboa Publications. pp. 79–80.
ISBN978-1127535484.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (
link)