Robert George Gilberg

'Woman in Red', California Modernist, San Francisco Bay Area Modernism, Thiebaud

Circa 1955

A substantial, late 19th century, French School portrait of an elegantly dressed young woman of the court, shown holding her English spaniel in her arms and gazing towards the viewer...

Inscribed verso 'AL.P. Moretti', titled 'Jeudi à la Maison' (Thursday at Home) and painted circa 1955. A period watercolor interior scene showing two girls relaxing at home, surroun...

Signed lower right, 'R. Landay' for Ruth Landay (American, 1917-2006) and dated, verso, 1971. Titled on verso, "Sunny Room in Aix-en-Provence". A luminous, Post-Impressionist watercolor showing a view of a sunlit room interior with a view beyond a balcony to sailing boats and an emerald ocean. This New York-born Modernist exhibited in California during the 1960s-1980s, including at the San Diego Museum of Natural History.

Signed lower right, 'Kevin Elston' (American, 20th century) and painted circa 1985. A substantial watercolor still-life of orchids and a persimmon, arranged with other objects relat...

Double-sided sketch for the "Sala delle Cariatidi" of the Royal Palace in Milan. The vibrant and intense brown ink sketch of these two female figures, executed by the Parma plastici...

Charcoal on paper

A very pure and tender rendition of a female nude. Elegant in its simplicity, the artist's model, is warming herself by a large stove! It is a work by Tito Lessi dating from circa 1890. Lessi was born in Florence, Italy and studied at the Florentine Academy of Fine Arts, under Enrico Pollastrini and Antonio Ciseri...

-ARTIST STATEMENT- I depict my person in multiplicity with different selves representing dramatis personae. My likeness is both implicit and symbolic in the portrayal of my narrative; the drama involved in creating art and the artist’s role in society. I use realism to invite the viewer into mysterious inner worlds that are layered reflections of the outer. Dehumanizing environments are imbued with art historical references as a critique of power structures. The artist is an Everyman who is at odds with society and his self. Visually my work is a celebration of society’s dark undercurrents and its overlooked absurdities. I use charcoal and printmaking media as their tenebrous values add a fitting metaphor. The nuances of light and shadow seduce viewers into a world their better judgment would have them avoid. This provokes a sense of disquietude that causes viewers to assess our world through the austerity of a colorless, yet not humorless, light. -BIO- Christopher Ganz grew up in Northeast Ohio and from early on had a fertile imagination and an interest in art. Christopher's artistic education truly began at the University of Missouri, where his love of the human form led to many figure drawing classes and his exposure to the wonders of printmaking. Christopher's then went onto graduate school at Indiana University and a summer abroad program in Italy was a dream realized. Christopher then grasped charcoal with a renewed vigor and large, sfumato-laden drawings ensued. Christopher's artistic influences are many; from a seminal exposure to Dore's engravings of the Divine Comedy, to Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Goya, and up to Lucian Freud, Mark Tansey...