1914-2000

Martha's choice of the artist's path is a continuation, in her life, of the creativity and sense of adventure that permeated the family from which she is descended.

Her uncle, George Constant Washington, moved from living under northwestern Europe's overcast skies to sunlit, brilliantly colorful, semitropical Guatemala to run a coffee plantation. He is credited as one of the inventors of instant coffee (in 1906) and considered the first to mass produce it in America.

Once George had a family, he invited his sister, Margot, to come over from her home in Belgium to become governess to his three children. Several years later, she met and married Chester Wright, who was working on a neighboring plantation. Their children, Martha, John, and Elizabeth, were born in Guatemala. In 1922, when Martha was eight, the Wright family moved to New Orleans.

Martha attended the Sophie Wright School, where as a senior, she received a one year-art scholarship. After graduation she used this scholarship to enroll in the New Orleans Art School.

During her early years (1930's), Martha tried to resolve her conflicting desires as to which outlet best suited her- a career as an artist or going on the stage as an actress. So off she went to NY to try her hand at acting where she achieved several small rolls in off Broadway plays. But her mind kept wandering back to being an artist and in 1940, at the age of 26, she entered the Art Students League where she studied and assisted under well known artist, Robert Brackman.

While attending the school, she met John F. Ambrose, who was not only a graduate of the school but an instructor. They pair began a rather unconventional romance for 1945; he was 9 years younger than Martha and gave her tubes of paint instead of flowers. They were married in 1946. They spent the summers in Massachusetts at the Cape School of Art, where they studied with the school's founder, Henry Hensche.

In 1949 Martha returned to N.O. with her young husband to pursue their art careers. They settled in Nine Mile Pt., La. where they painted and taught art at local schools and art academies. Jack's life was cut short by a tragic auto accident in 1961, leaving Martha a widow at 47. Continuing to paint, and accepting art students at her home, Martha coped with her loss. She never stopped taking workshops and studied with well know artists Rex Brandt, Robert Woods, Edgar Whitney and Milford Zornes.

Martha had a great love for animals, assembling a menagerie of stray cats and dogs that she regarded as her children. There were at least 30 to 40 cats and dogs at her Nine Mile Point home at any given time By the early 1990's, due to the amount of time and energy required for this many animals, Martha gave up her art career. She spent her remaining years caring for her beloved animals.

Martha's art career spanned over 50 years and her work included oil portraits of family and friends, figure sketches and paintings of models, watercolors of N.O. architecture, scenes of rural areas, La. bayous and waterways...

Please browse through the gallery and enjoy this collection of works of art by Martha Ambrose.