Gertrude Maartense

Gertrude Maartense (born 1918) is a Dutch Canadian painter and printmaker known for her diverse technical range and stylistic evolution. Born in the Netherlands in 1918, she immigrated to Canada and established her artistic practice in the mid 20th century. During the 1960s, she resided in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, before eventually relocating to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her career was most prolific between the 1960s and the early 1980s.

Maartense’s body of work is characterized by two distinct stylistic directions. She achieved recognition for her meticulous botanical watercolours, which were often compared to the detailed naturalism of J. Fenwick Lansdowne. Simultaneously, she developed a series of oil paintings and prints that utilized complex geometric cubism. This facet of her practice focused on structured compositions and the fragmentation of forms, demonstrating her proficiency in both traditional representation and modernist abstraction.

In addition to her work as a painter, Maartense was an active printmaker, producing woodblock prints and other editions. Her subject matter frequently included still lifes, industrial landscapes, and botanical studies. Her artistic contributions are documented in reference resources such as the Dictionary of Canadian Artists and are maintained in the library and archives of the National Gallery of Canada.

The work of Gertrude Maartense is represented in several public and university collections in Canada. These institutional holdings include the permanent collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Guelph, and the University of Winnipeg Art Collection. Her career remains an example of the mid century European influence on the development of regional Canadian art in the Prairies.