David Stone Martin, born David Livingstone Martin (June 13, 1913 – March 6, 1992 in New London, Connecticut)http://death-records.mooseroots.com/l/98952808/David-Martin was an American artist best known for his illustrations on jazz record albums.Detailed biographical information is spread throughout the book White Collar Radicals by Aaron D. Purcell, University of Tennessee Press 2009.
Biography
David Stone Martin was born June 13, 1913, in Chicago and attended evening classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was greatly influenced by the line art of Ben Shahn. During World War II, Martin was an art director for the United States Office of War Information. By 1950, Martin had produced more than 100 covers for Mercury, Asch, Disc and Dial record albums. Many assignments came from his longtime friend, record producer Norman Granz.
For various companies, Martin eventually created illustrations for more than 400 record albums. Many of these were simply line art combined with a single color. Martin's favorite tool was a crowquill pen, which enabled him to do delicate line work. CBS-TV art director William Golden gave Martin many print ad assignments during the 1950s, and Martin soon expanded into illustration for Seventeen, The Saturday Evening Post and other slick magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. His studio was located in Roosevelt, New Jersey, near his home there.Peng, Leif. Today's Inspiration, October 2008.Staff. "History Of Roosevelt, New Jersey", Rutgers University Libraries. Accessed February 14, 2011.
Martin is represented in the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Smithsonian Institution.
Martin was the husband of muralist Thelma Martin, who painted the post office mural for the facility in Sweetwater, Tennessee. He was the father of graphic artist Stefan Martin (born 1936) and painter Tony Martin. He died March 6, 1992, in New London, Connecticut, where he had lived in his old age.
Notable album covers All or Nothing at All, Billie Holiday, Verve The Astaire Story, Fred Astaire, Clef Billie Holiday Sings, Clef Bird & Diz, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Clef Buddy and Sweets, Harry "Sweets" Edison and Buddy Rich, Norgran An Evening with Billie Holiday, Clef Jazz Giant, Bud Powell, Norgran Lester Young Trio, Mercury Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio, Norgran Love Is a Gentle Thing, Harry Belafonte, RCA Oscar Peterson Plays Duke Ellington, Clef Oscar Peterson Plays Porgy & Bess, Verve Piano Interpretations by Bud Powell, Norgran Piano Solos, Bud Powell, Clef Piano Solos #2, Bud Powell, Clef Sing and Swing with Buddy Rich, Norgran Struggle, Woody Guthrie, Smithsonian Folkways Swinging Brass with the Oscar Peterson Trio, Verve The Tal Farlow Album, Tal Farlow, NorgranAllMusic: The Tal Farlow Album These Are the Blues, Ella Fitzgerald, Verve Toshiko's Piano, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Norgran Urbanity, Hank Jones, Clef
Time magazine covers David Merrick, 25 March 1966 Robert F. Kennedy, 16 September 1966 Inside the Viet Cong, 25 August 1967 Mayor Carl Stokes, 17 November 1967 Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, 9 February 1968 Sen. Eugene McCarthy, 22 March 1968 Nguyen Van Thieu, 28 March 1969 Gov. George Wallace, 27 March 1972
References
External links U.S. Navy Art Collection: David Stone Martin David Stone Martin album covers at: Birkajazz.com LP Cover Lover Vinyl Culture Quarterly Jazz at First Sight: The Art of David Stone Martin (July–December 2010, Jazz at Lincoln Center)