View from the Artist's Studio 

Henri Martin painted this view with oil on canvas, using a pointillist technique, sometime between 1860 and 1943. The canvas surface is built up from countless tiny dabs of paint, each one applied individually. It must have been a labor-intensive and meditative process, far removed from the industrial processes transforming life outside that window. The thick application of paint gives the scene a tactile quality, as if you could reach out and feel the texture of the buildings and the distant sky. Martin's commitment to this demanding technique speaks to the way materials and processes can embody meaning. His art challenges our notions of the division of labor within art history, which often separates the conceptual work of the artist from the skilled labor of the craftsperson. Ultimately, this view, with its material presence and clear demonstration of the artist's labor, invites us to appreciate the hand-made in an age of mass production.