Teaching Wildlife Respect Through Art.

Missouri Artist Bernard Martin (1912-1998).

(We no longer buy Bernard Martin prints or paintings.)

Missouri Artist Bernard Martin

Wildlife artist Bernard Martin was born on June 12, 1912 in Hiawatha, Kansas. When he returned from military service, Martin and his brother published children’s books under the name of Tellwell Press in Kansas City. Then, he briefly operated a small advertising agency in Kansas City and he went on to become an illustrator and painter. He was a pupil of Thomas Hart Benton at the Kansas City Art Institute. He is known for his lifelike color prints, featuring remarkable accuracy of color and detail.

His home and studio was at Lake Lotawana, near Kansas City. Here, he painted song birds and game birds and produced signed and numbered prints from his original artwork. He exhibited throughout Missouri and the national Wildlife Art Show. Beginning in 1960, Martin and his wife, Maxine, spent six months of each year on the road, painting and writing about wildlife. He often wrote features on conservation, concentrating on respect for wildlife, for magazines and newspapers. His illustrations and writings regularly appeared in the Springfield News and Leader and other daily newspapers. His work was featured in Missouri Conservationist magazine and the Kansas State Fish and Game Commission magazine.

Missouri Conservationist

In the fall of 1976, Robertson Gallery hosted an art exhibition of original paintings and reproductions by the famed illustrator. He died on July 7, 1998.

Close-up of Print

His prints are perfect for any sportsman’s office. We have three of his numbered prints (unframed). Here’s a description of each in Martin’s own words:

Stony Point Covey (1981) – “A scene reverts to my boyhood days in Brown County, Kansas, where I hunted with a brace of pointers. Every hunter recalls his personal “stony point.”

Green-Winged Teal (1979) – “This pair of dazzling, little greenwings rest at water’s edge near my home at Lake Lotawana, Missouri.”

Wood Duck (1978) – “This pair of wood ducks nests in a hollow of a tall tree across the lake from my home. The pair has used the same nesthole for several years.”