Harry Martin’s People
November 24, 2025
By Bing McGilvray
Harry Martin Figurines. Bing McGilvray photo.
Inset: Harry Martin in his studio, March, 1978. Charles Lowe photo courtesy Cape Ann Museum Archives.
There is a singular vitrine containing sixteen paper mâché figurines by Harry Martin (1927–1984) at CAM’s Campus on the Green in the Janet and William Ellery James Gallery. It might go unnoticed, pushed aside by the much bigger, more boisterous Hammers on Stone exhibit it shares in the same space. Such a situation is apropos of Harry’s life, always overshadowed by the larger-than-life personalities he was closest to and events he experienced in their company.
Back in 2018 at the CAM Archives, I asked the late great Fred Buck who he thought was the best artist in Gloucester, living or dead. He directed me to a thin file on Harry Martin, hitherto unknown to me. On opening it, I found a glowing tribute in the Gloucester Times to Harry - ’A capacity to embrace life’ by Peter Anastas - who happened to be sitting directly across the table at the time. A proverbial can of worms opened as Peter began to tell tales about Harry. I was astonished. Peter picked up on my excitement and took me to meet poet Gerrit Lansing, who he said had once lived at Hammond Castle with Harry! Fascinated, then obsessed, I have since gathered a thick folder of information about Harry Martin and my interest has not subsided. He was a prolific artist, photographer, graphic designer, filmmaker and, as evidenced by the fragile figures on display, a gifted sculptor. Most of his work is now lost but John Giglio, who donated the figurines to CAM, still owns a few choice paintings and drawings. Reports of other pieces abound but are hard to track down. The hunt is worth pursuing though.
Harry Martin photos at the Castle, early 1960s. Clockwise from top left: Harry Martin, Harry and Gerrit Lansing, Courtyard pool, Kenwood Elmslie. Photos courtesy Hammond Castle Museum.
Harry’s art is whimsically inventive and magical, but it is the cast of characters dancing through Harry’s life, and how they intertwine, that captivated me even more. Lyricist John La Touché (‘The Bad Boy of Broadway’), artist Ellsworth Kelly, genius inventor Jack Hammond Jr, Scottish author and historian Lord Kinross (John Patrick Douglas Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross), poet Charles Olson … the list goes on. Along with each of the names comes an amazing array of overlapping backstories. Harry’s passion was people. His lovers became lifelong friends. His many friends cherished his humble generosity which he extended to everyone he met. To supplement his artistic pursuits, he taught at St. John’s Prep and Monserrat College and was Gloucester a cabbie for West End Taxi. Harry loved human interaction, hearing people’s stories. They were all interconnected and at the intersection of every storyline, there’s Harry smiling.
Consider this highly condensed anecdote. In the early fifties, the definitively bi-sexual Jack Hammond Jr. had a lengthy affair with John La Touche, as did Harry. Hammond, who was on the Board of Directors of RCA, made frequent trips to NYC. La Touche was at the center of a young, mostly gay arts clique that included Ellsworth, Gerrit, Harry, poet Kenwood Elmslie and Ruth Landshoff-Yorck (‘Das It-Girl der Weimarer Republik). When the Board adjourned, Hammond enjoyed joining this bohemian scene. Perhaps it reminded him of his own youth on Eastern Point with A. Pratt Andrew, Henry Davis Sleeper, and Leslie Buswell.
The Art of Harry Martin. (Clockwise from top left) The Innocents At Home book cover, Self portrait, Hammond Castle, Untitled painting, cover of Gerrit Lansing’s SET literary magazine, Portrait of Ruth Landshoff-Yorck.
Harry was also a New York cabbie and one day he picked up a fare who happened to be J.P.D. Balfour, newly arrived to begin his American Adventure and write a book about it. Harry introduced him to his lively, closeted crew and his lordship could not have been happier. The Innocents at Home by Lord Kinross (1959) was dedicated to Harry Martin, who drew the cover and illustrated the text. After La Touche died suddenly – a wild side story in which Harry was briefly accused of murder – the aging Jack Jr. invited Harry to come live at the castle. Harry did and Gerrit soon followed.
One evening Gerrit and Harry decided to go to Fort Square to see if they could find Charles Olson. They arrived unannounced, Charles graciously invited them in, and they stayed up all night in deep, boozy conversation. As a result of this meeting Olson gave his first poetry reading in Gloucester at Hammond Castle, attended by Vincent Ferrini, Mary Shore and many others of the burgeoning, local avant-garde. After Hammond’s death in 1965, Gerrit and Harry decided to remain on Cape Ann but now their orbit shifted around the Big O. Cultural worlds collided all for the better. The Beats and the Black Mountain crowd were frequent visitors. Poet Ed Dorn and his artist wife Helene often came and when they separated, Helene stayed on. Helene Dorn became one of Harry’s dearest friends. There are still a few old timers in town who remember them both very fondly. I have not yet heard one mean word about Harry. Incidentally, Helene was the mother of Fred Buck and thus this abbreviated peek at Harry Martin comes full circle.
CAM’s tiny display of figurines, a fleeting glance at Harry’s brilliance, may be the only one we will get for some time. Appearing without notice, it will just as quickly vanish. Delicate as they are, each little body shimmies and shines with a distinctly unique personality. Bound to bring a smile even to the sourest of pusses, it is worth the effort to seek them out. I doubt this is the last we will see of Harry. He has an uncanny knack for popping up, unexpectedly at the perfect moment. Like magic.
Bing McGilvray is a feature writer and illustrator for Cape Ann COSMOS. As the creator of Cosmic Bear Comix and BingOgrams he has wandered far and wide, to UMass (BA ‘76), UCLA (MFA ‘86), here, there and beyond. Used to be he was everywhere (like Cosmic Bear) but Bing now happily resides in Gloucester MA and has little desire to ‘go over the bridge’.
Bing McGilvray
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