Signed lower right, 'DeMartis' for James Joseph DeMartis (American, 1926-1996) and dated 1964. Born in Queens, New York, James Joseph DeMartis served with distinction in World War II and was decorated at the Battle of the Bulge. He subsequently attended painting classes at New York's Museum of Modern Art (1946-47) and, later, at the Art Students League of New York. He then enrolled at the California School of Fine Arts in Santa Monica, California until 1949, before leaving t study in Europe in 1950. He settled in Florence, Italy where he attended L’Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (1950-54). While continuing to study painting, he participated in several group and one-man shows in Italy and Switzerland. In 1956, DeMartis returned to New York at the height of the American Abstract Expressionist movement. He settled with his new family in Brooklyn and, after participating in a series of grass-roots galleries that her started with fellow artists, he founded the Armory Gallery in Manhattan. He also exhibited in other Manhattan galleries as well as at the National Arts Club. In 1961, De Martis was awarded the prestigious Emily Lowe Award for Painting. This led to to shows at the Ward Egglestone, ROKO, Pierantonio and Artemis West galleries from 1962-68. He then returned to Europe to participate in a group show in Florence. Upon his return, he opened the Brownstone Gallery in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, where he exhibited his and others’ works for over twenty years. The recipient of numerous prizes, medals and juried awards, James De Martis exhibited widely and with success including at one-man shows in Tokyo, Brooklyn, New York, Sarasota Florida, San Francisco and Santa Fe. Select Exhibitions: 1953 Brodighera, Italy 1954 Galerie an der Reuss, Lucerne, Switzerland 1955 La Casa di Dante, Florence, Italy 1956 Walden School, New York, New York 1957 Bottega 57 Gallery, Brooklyn, New York 1960, 61 Hicks Street Gallery, Brooklyn New York 1960 Heights Casino, Brooklyn, New York 1961 Ward Eggleston Gallery, New York, New York 1962 Ray Gallery, Brooklyn New York 1962 Pietroantonio Gallery, New York, New York 1962,3,5,7 Armory Gallery, New York, New York 1965 Brooklyn Arts Gallery, Brooklyn, New York 1966,9 Brooklyn Heights Association 1967 Roko Gallery, New York, New York 1970-83, Brownstone Gallery, Brooklyn, New York 1972 Artemis East Gallery, New York, New York 1975 Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York 1977 Marcoleo Gallery, New York, New York 1978 Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York 1989-92 Gallery Gion Tokyo, Japan 1994 Private show, Sarasota, Florida 1995 Private show, San Francisco, California 1995 Private show, Copake, New York 1996 Washington and Jefferson College, Pennsylvania May, 2018 Retrospective, Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, New York