Ep. 17: Mary-Anne Martin: A Friendship

Throughout her life, Annette Nancarrow welcomed artists, musicians, writers, movie stars, and other active and creative people into her world.

Mary-Anne Martin & Assistant Caroline Bettelheim, Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art, New York.

One of these was Mary-Anne Martin, long recognized as one of the foremost experts on Mexican and Latin American art. In the late 1970s, Mary-Anne created the Latin American Department at Sotheby’s and was a catalyst in reviving interest in art and artists from that region.

In 1982, Martin founded the Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art gallery in historic Amster Yard on 39th Street in New York City, which moved to its present location on East 73rd Street in 1986. The gallery showcases works by such masters as Carrington, Covarrubias, Gerzso, Kahlo, Lam, Matta, Orozco, Rivera, Tamayo and more and is considered the first stop for serious collectors of Latin American art. It welcomes everyone interested in learning more about artists from south of our borders and its staff often serve as consultants for museums, auction houses, and researchers.

During a conversation with Mary-Anne in 2007, she told me that when Frida Kahlo’s El Aborto, inscribed to Annette, was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in 1992, it was purchased by a Seattle collector. Martin later acquired it from that collector and sold it to another US collector, whose name she was not at liberty to reveal. Its whereabouts is still unknown at this date.

Annette Nancarrow was one of the first people who befriended Mary-Anne when she started visiting Mexico regularly in the 1970s as she began organizing the Mexican auctions for Sotheby’s:

Annette was definitely an original. She told me about her experiences with Orozco and gave me insights into the techniques Rivera used on his easel paintings. She had paintings by both men and we sold her Old Men in Overcoats, a NYC depression scene by Orozco, in one of the first Mexican auctions.

Following that first meeting, Martin made a point of visiting her whenever she could:

She was amazing for her age [in her late sixties or early seventies then]. I would close my eyes and hope for the best as she navigated Mexican traffic in her little automobile. She was fearless!

It was a friendship that Mary-Anne valued and her description of this vibrant artist brings her to life for me:

Annette was very wiry with no extra fat at all. She had a dancer’s posture and wore flowing skirts and scoop-necked tops with wide cinch belts that emphasized her slim waist. She was always very put together. She has a great shock of bright red hair and wore interesting jewelry—pre-Columbian pieces she designed herself. She never did things by half and as she grew older she didn’t change in any way and she had a vast knowledge of Mexican art, which she shared generously with me.

During her lifetime, Annette Nancarrow was on the edge of the spotlight during so many important trends in art, music, and history. Those who knew her remember her well—a colorful, enthusiastic and vivacious woman who immersed herself wholeheartedly in whatever she did. Mary-Ann Martin is just one of many who remember her fondly. Below are two photos of Annette with one of the portraits of her painted by Jose Clemente Orozco. The first was taken in her home in Mexico and the second was taken in the Mary-Anne Martin gallery when Annette was in her eighties. The third photo is Old Men in Overcoats (1932) by Jose Clemente Orosco.