Reclusive maths teacher revealed as prolific painter

ABC NEWS (Australia)

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.

Transcript

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.

01:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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