Stephen Gilbert

Untitled

1948

In Tate Britain

Walk Through British Art: 1940

Free entry

Artist: Stephen Gilbert 1910–2007
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 535 x 715 mm
frame: 582 x 767 x 53 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Purchased 1983
Reference: T03698

Display caption

In 1948, Stephen Gilbert was invited by the Danish artist Asger Jorn to join the CoBrA group. Taking its name from the home cities of its founders – Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam – CoBrA embraced a direct form of expression inspired by the art of children. Gilbert had settled in Paris in 1945 and, for some time, had been taking inspiration from animal and insect life. The resulting images were of hybrid and fantastical creatures, loosely painted in high colour.

Gallery label, September 2016

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Catalogue entry

T03698 Untitled 1948

Oil on canvas 21 × 28 1/4 (535 × 715)
Inscribed ‘Stephen Gilbert 1948’ on reverse
Purchased from the artist (Knapping Fund) 1983
Exh: Stephen Gilbert, Cobra Paintings 1940–1950, Court Gallery, Copenhagen, October 1971 (23, repr. in col.); Aftermath, France 1945–54, New Images of Man, Barbican Art Gallery, March–June 1982 (87, repr. p.105, in reverse)
Lit: Sarah Wilson, ‘Stephen Gilbert’, Aftermath, France 1945–54, New Images of Man, exhibition catalogue, Barbican Art Gallery, 1982, p.103

Stephen Gilbert was invited to join the Cobra group of artists in Paris, where he lived, in the year of this painting. He had been painting similar subjects for some years beforehand.

Published in:
The Tate Gallery 1982-84: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions, London 1986