Jorge Martins was born in Lisbon in 1940. Between 1957 and 1961 he attended courses in architecture and painting at the Escola Superior de Belas-Artes in Lisbon. In 1958, he began printmaking at the Cooperative Society of Portuguese Engravers.
Martins’ work in this early period was characterised by abstract leanings, employing flat shapes and rigorous design, which would later evolve into a language close to lyrical abstractionism.
In 1959, he participated in his first-ever exhibitions, perhaps the most visible being the II Exhibition of Plastic Arts at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in 1961. That same year, he left for Paris, where he would live for the next thirteen years, honing his style far from his hometown. In the French capital, he kept company with Júlio Pomar, Lourdes Castro, René Bertholo, Arpad Szenes and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, among others, and adopted the novel style being developed and experimented with at the time. His work in Paris evolved into a kind of figuration not so far removed from the influence of pop art, and even less so from its French contemporary, nouveau réalisme.
The late 1960s and early 1970s marked the beginning of Martins’ recognition on the international stage. His native Portugal awarded him various prizes and honours and his curiosity led him to America, specifically, New York, where he would acquire a studio in 1975. After an intense period of artistic production across the Atlantic, he would take up residence in Lisbon in 1991.
Martins’ career has taken him all over the world. Some of his most notable exhibitions include: an exhibition of drawings at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (1978); representing Portugal at the 18th São Paulo Biennial (1985); Centro de Arte Moderna, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon (1985); drawing retrospective, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon (1988); Galeria Valentim de Carvalho (1991); retrospective, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (1993); Galeria Luís Serpa, Lisbon (1995); Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington (1995); Galeria Fernando Santos, Porto (1998); Culturgest, Lisbon (2001); travelling exhibition: National Museum of Fine Arts, Rio de Janeiro; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo; Caixa Econômica Federal Gallery, Brasília (2003); Relative Density group exhibition, Centro de Arte Moderna, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (2005); Simulacros – Uma Antologia (2006); retrospective, Berardo Collection Museum, Centro Cultural de Belém (2006); A Substância do Tempo double exhibition: Carmona e Costa Foundation, Lisbon; Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto (2013); Never Look Back, Kogan Gallery, Paris (2013); Aphorisms, Galeria Giefarte, Lisbon (2015); Arpad Szenes-Vieira da Silva Foundation, in partnership with the Carmona e Costa Foundation (2017); Museo Extremeno e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporaneo, Badajoz, Spain (2018-2019); Horizontes, MUDAS (Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Madeira) (2019); Jorge Martins. Shadows and Paradoxes, MARCO (Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo), Spain (2019-2020); Lusco Fusco, Ala da Frente Municipal Gallery, Vila Nova de Famalicão (2020-2021).
