Fletcher Martin was born on April 19th, 1904 in Palisade, Colorado to Clinton and Josephine Martin, his father was a newspaper man. In his adolescence, he worked as a printer and eventually dropped out of high school taking on a variety of jobs, including a lumberjack and a professional boxer. From 1922-1926, Martin served in the U.S. Navy. After his service, he worked as a printer in Los Angeles and was the assistant to David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican Muralist into the 1930s’. While Martin was not formally trained in arts at a school, he taught at the Art Center School in Los Angeles in 1938, as well as at Otis Art Insitute, Mills College, and Claremont College. Eventually teaching at the University of Florida, State University of Iowa, the University of Minnesota, San Antonio Art Institute, Kansas City Art Institute and Washington State University.
Martin applied and won commissions from the New Deal’s Section of Painting and Sculpture painting murals for the San Pedro Federal Building and Post Office in Los Angeles. In addition, he worked on a mural study as a part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for the post office in Kellogg, Idaho. The Study for Mine Rescue was rejected due to industrials against the depiction of the dangers of mining; however, it is now a piece in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
During WWII, Life magazine sent him to Northern Africa as a war artist-correspondent, he followed the battles of Algiers, Tunis, Cape Bon, and Mateur. His sketches and fourteen paintings made during this period were featured as the cover illustration and an article in the 27 December 1943 issue of Life magazine. This was a turning point in his career bringing him national recognition as an artist. After WWII, Martin taught at the Art Students League Summer School in Woodstock, New York. He was the recipient of the Walter Lippencott Prize in 1947 and the Benjamin Altman Prize in 1949.
Fletcher Martin visited Reclamation sites in the Columbia-Pacific Northwest Region and the California-Great Basin Region during 1970. He created a series of artworks as he travelled between Reclamation sites, depicting major dams and impressive rock formations through watercolor and ink paintings. Fletcher has a distinct angular style that repeats lines to create various patterns through his work. Rapid, short lines repeat after one another in the same direction to build up the shapes of shadowed rocks and clouds. To add color to his works, Fletcher used either watercolor or oil paint. His color palette was limited, allowing his linework and composition to be the focal point of his work. His speed and technique aided him as he completed numerous works for each of the sites he visited.
From 1967 till his death, Martin made Guanajuato, Mexico his primary residence. Fletcher Martin passed away May 30, 1979, His works can be found in the collections of Abbott Laboratories, Brandice University, the Cranbrook Institute, the Denver Art Museum, and the Library of Congress.