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JOSEPH DE MARTINI (1896-1984)
Six Day Bicycle Race, Madison Square Garden. Oil on illustration board, c. 1941. Signed, Joseph Demartini, lower right. 381x464 mm; 15x18¼ inches.
Begun in 1899 and continuing until 1961, with 73 editions, The Six Days of New York was a six-day cycling event that took place in the velodrome in Madison Square Garden, NY.
The Six Day Bicycle Race as depicted here by noted American artist was a very popular event in the United States starting first in the 1890s, and exploding in popularity in the 1920s. The rise of the automobile, the Great Depression, and the Second World War eventually brought a decline. As seen here by noted American Artist Joseph De Martini. De Martini is drawn to depicting an important event in sports history that took place in the velodrome at Madison Square Garden in the year 1939. Martini was a highly respected and exhibited artist who paintings were in many museum collections. This painting is directly related to another version of the picture formerly in the collection of the St. Louis Art Museum. This picture is among De Martini's most important pictures, and though the popular event was often captured photographically, it remains a subject matter that was rarely depicted by artists. A publication on the artist by Colin Brooks is in preparation.
