Born on August 6, 1893 in Saint-Paul, France. He received his early training from his father Henri Martin (1860-1943), the famous pointillist painter. He also received formal training at the “Ecole des Beaux-Arts” in Paris from Frederic Cormon (1845-1924) but soon escaped from Academic conventions and restraints.
He painted mainly views of the south of France and of Venice where he had several stays. Martin-Ferrières first used his father’s pointillist technique, then widened his brushwork and freed his style in balanced compositions. He used a thick paste worked in superimposed layers. His regular submissions to the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris secured him a success: he was awarded a Mention in 1920, the Silver Medal in 1923, a travelling grant in1924, the National Prize in 1925, the Gold Medal and the Institute Prize in 1928. He was then appointed a member of the jury of the Salon. He exhibited in Paris until 1965.
Jacques Martin-Ferrières visited Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia in 1938. He painted local people in their traditional clothes, local processions, and town center scenes. He made at least one painting in Ohrid in 1938 entitled: “Le marche a Ochrida”, sold by Christie’s New York on 2-Oct-1991 (lot number 98) for 15, 376 euro. Also, a painting called “Femmes Yougoslaves au marche” which strongly resembles to Ohrid city scene was on sale by the auction house Artcurial, Paris on 16-Aug 2007 (lot number 122) with price estimation of 4000 euro.
The painting “Marche aux Fiancailles a Ochrid” was sold by Auction House Clarke , Larchmont, NY 10538 on 17th June 2018 ( lot number 76) for 4200$. ( provenance : Petit Palais Musee, Geneva, with certificate of Oscar Ghez, President Petit Palais Muse, Geneva from June 12 1972)
