Village in the Sun 

Henri Martin painted this village scene with oil on canvas, using a pointillist technique of small, distinct dots of color. The rough, textured surfaces of the buildings are built up with countless touches of the brush, mimicking the labor of the stonemasons who originally built these structures. The very process by which Martin made this painting relates directly to the scene he depicts. The sun-baked stones and tiled roofs are rendered with the same painstaking approach that would have gone into their construction. Martin's technique is labor-intensive and time consuming, not unlike the traditional craft practices he represents. Rather than emphasizing the artist's genius, this method foregrounds the value of repetitive, skilled work. Martin elevates these everyday forms of labor by engaging with the same kind of dedication and skill in his art. It's a testament to the fact that truly seeing any object means understanding how it was made, and how that making carries cultural significance.