Reclusive maths teacher revealed as prolific painter
An astonishing discovery of thousands of unknown paintings in a derelict South Australian farmhouse is making waves in the art community. They were painted by a reclusive maths teacher from Mount Gambier who no-one knew was a painter.
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00:00 It's one of those stories from the art world that captures the imagination.
00:06 The discovery of a reclusive and prolific artist who painted in complete secrecy, whose
00:13 work was only found upon his death.
00:15 Whatever he could find, he painted on.
00:19 Curtains, blinds, anything.
00:24 For Dr Elizabeth Arthur, who is a psychoanalyst and an art valuer, this collection was the
00:29 find of a lifetime.
00:32 The final number, when we had them all set out, the final number I think was 7003.
00:38 This show in particular, about there being a secret of 7000 paintings, I can't say that
00:44 over the 60 year history of the gallery that that's occurred before.
00:47 The man who made them was Robert Martinsen, a retired math teacher who lived in a derelict
00:52 farmhouse on the outskirts of Mount Gambier in South Australia.
00:57 After he died, they contracted someone to empty out the house and they had no idea what
01:03 was behind those walls.
01:05 And they found these thousands of paintings stuffed everywhere.
01:09 Particularly at the opening, we had a number of audience members who were crying in relation
01:13 to the story behind the artist.
01:15 They're an outsider artist, so there's no impact from the art market, no formal training.
01:22 I mean the skill is quite amazing.
01:26 He was obviously very influenced by the great modernist painters of the 19th century.
01:31 Dr Arthur spent many years studying the man through his work, cataloguing his artwork.
01:37 And I think the collection will become very significant, very significant indeed.
01:44 The exhibition closes at the end of October.
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