Victor Gabriel Gilbert

19th Century Academic Portrait, "Young Lady Writing a Letter"

1875

Victor Gilbert's natural ability as an artist was recognized early, but his family lacked the financial resources to send the young man to the École des Beaux-Arts. Rather than enrolling in the École, Gilbert was apprenticed to Eugene Adam as an artisan painter and decorator. His only formal education was evening classes with Pierre Levasseur at the École de la ville de Paris. Perhaps it was his early immersion into la vie quotidienne that formed the basis for his later choices of subject matter for his art, that of the markets and streets of Paris. Despite his lack of formal training, Gilbert's admissions to the Paris Salons of 1873 and 1874 were very well received by audiences and critics alike; at this time he was supported by the dealer Paul Martin, who was an important proponent of the Impressionist movement. Gilbert emerged in the early 1880s as the primary Realist painter to record the French marketplace. He achieved considerable success, while firmly establishing his reputation, at the 1880 Salon when he obtained a second-class medal, critical acclaim and a state purchase for his painting entitled A Corner of the Fish Market, Morning. His oeuvre is punctuated with very large canvases depicting the various sections of the largest marketplace in Paris, Les Halles. His painting styles encompassed both the naturalist manner of the late nineteenth century and the vibrant technique of plein-air light and brushwork that emerged in his paintings of the early twentieth century. He was honored with a gold medal in 1889 and the Bonnat Prize in 1926. His reputation was confirmed by his nomination to the Legion d'Honneur in 1897.