ROBERT GEORGE GILBERG

(American, 1911-1970)

FORMS IN BLUE AND GRAY

Gouache on Board

16 x 20½ Inches

Signed Lower Right, "Gilberg" and

 Dated 1954

 

A substantial, mid-century gouache abstract comprising pendant geometric forms in pastel tones of sage, ivory and gun-metal gray contained within vertical, rectangular enclosures of pewter and sky-blue.

 

Born in Oakland, Robert George Gilberg first studied at the Oakland Art Center in the 1930s. Following service in the Army during WWII, he settled in Nevada City, CA where he remained until shortly before his death in San Francisco. Gilbert exhibited widely and with success, including at the San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts, (1941, 1942, solo) and was the recipient of numerous medals, prizes and juried awards. Other exhibitions include: Army Art Exhibit (San Diego), 1945 (1st prize); California Watercolor Society, 1946-53; Calif. State Fair, 1957.

 

Wayne Thiebaud, in his foreword to the catalog for Robert Gilberg's 1971 Memorial exhibition, asked: "How in the world did he build such worlds?" Thiebaud then answered his own question, though only partially: "Good paintings insist on a curious magic of turning the simple into the grand."

 

Although not much given to explanation of his own work, Gilberg has written:

 

"Art springs from the urge to communicate.

It is not always the absolute portrayal of existing fact.

 

We all have ideas to convey,

We all recognize beauty,

We all respond to nature's moods.

 

The color of winter is drab;

The trees of winter are naked;

The color of spring is brilliant;

The trees of spring are clothed with leafiness.

 

Through art, we make evident our profoundest responses"

 

- Robert Gilberg, 1948