1910, Hamme-Mille (Belgium) -

Martha Grünenwaldt was born on the Walloon side of the Brabant region. Her father was an itinerant musician. He taught Martha how to play the violin. He played at street fairs in and around his village. Martha went with him and rarely attended school. She married a musician when she was twenty-three and worked in a factory until the birth of her daughter Josine. In 1937, she broke up with her husband, and wandered around with her daughter, playing the violin on terraces of cafes. In 1940, her husband got custody of their daughter and Martha worked as a housekeeper in a castle where she was not allowed to play the violin. In 1968, her daughter asked her to come and live with her in Mouscron. In 1981, when she turned seventy-one years old, Martha started drawing on the back of posters and on retrieved wallpaper. She uses gouaches, colored pencils and ball-point pen. She draws mostly women... who become flowers... that become animals... that become birds... that make us giddy. Martha lives in her own world, all into her work... work which will perhaps bring her some peace.