Martha Grünenwaldt Belgian nationality Born in Hamme-Mille in 1910

Martha Grünenwaldt was born on the Walloon side of the Brabant region. Her father is an itinerant musician. He teaches Martha how to play the violin. He plays at street fairs in and around his village. Martha goes with him and rarely attends school. She marries a musician when she is twenty-three and works in a factory until the birth of her daughter Josine.

In 1937, she breaks up with her husband, and wanders around with her daughter, playing the violin on terraces of cafes. In 1940, her husband gets custody of their daughter and Martha works as a housekeeper in a castle where she is not allowed to play the violin. In 1968, her daughter asks her to come and live with her in Mouscron. In 1981, when she turns seventy-one years old, Martha starts drawing on the back of posters and on retrieved wallpaper. She uses gouaches, colored pencils and ballpoint 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.

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