Sybil Gibson (1908 - 1995)
OUTSIDER / FOLK ART
Sybil Gibson was a college educated elementary school teacher, mother of one daughter, interested in real estate and the financial markets. In November 1963 at the age of 55, she became enchanted with a piece of gift wrapping paper in a downtown Miami, FL. store. When she picked up a brush to create her own wrapping paper with materials at hand – tempera and brown grocery bags- she became totally seized with a compulsion to paint which lasted three decades.
Sybil Gibson was a blithe spirit. She had no cause to espouse, no avant-garde puzzles to explain. Her work was an honest and passionate escape from daily realities and responsibilities to a place of happiness, beauty, sensitivity and complete Freedom. Her colors – both lively and subtle, charming naïveté, and unlimited imagination bring joy to the eye.
Critics of Gibson’s work compare it to that of Auguste Renoir, Milton Avery, Odilon Redon.
Her paintings are in the museum collections: Birmingham Museum of Art – Birmingham, AL Fayette Art Museum – Fayette, AL; Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art – Marietta, GA; Montgomery Museum of Fine Art – Montgomery, AL; Museum of American Folk Art – New York, NY , New Orleans Museum of Art – New Orleans, LA New York State Historical Society – Cooperstown, NY, The Brooklyn Museum- Brooklyn, NY and on permanent installation at the Birmingham Airport.
Girl with Blue Dress 1994
Acrylic and gouache on cardboard
19.25 x 13.5 inches; 48.9 x 34.3 cm
Signed and dated LR in pencil, Estate number
1605-94 on verso
Girl with Blue Eyes, Green Dress, ca 1994
Tempera on cardboard
10.5 x 6.25 inches; 26.7 x 15.9 cm
Signed lower margin in pencil
Girl with Blue Hat, 1970
Tempera on brown paper
10 x 7.33 inches; 25.4 x 18.6 cm
Signed and dated LR in pencil
Orange Floral in Pink Vase, 1992
Tempera on cardboard 9 x 4 .5 inches; 22.9 x 11.4 cm
Signed and dated LR in pencil
Bird with Red Crown, 1975
Tempera on cardboard
11 x 7.5 inches; 27.9 x 19.7 cm
Signed and dated in pencil LR and signed again LR in pencil;
Estate number 0766-75
A Star in Her Crown, 1970 - 1979
Tempera on cardboard 9 x 5 inches; 22.9 x 12.7 cm
Signed on verso in pencil,
Estate number 0279-70/79
Red Carnations with a Decorated Border, ca. 1976
Watercolor and gouache on brown paper
21.5 x 17.25 inches; 54.6 x 43.8 cm
Signed LR and titled on verso
Brown Pot of Flowers, 1968
Watercolor and gouache on brown paper
19 x 13.25 inches; 48.3 x 33.7 cm
Signed and dated (4/7/68) and titled on verso
An Early Effort, 1976
Watercolor and gouache on brown paper
18 x 13.25 inches; 45.7 x 33.7 cm
Signed LR and titled on verso
Polka Dot Vase Done in Blue, 1976
Watercolor and gouache on brown paper
24.25 18.5 inches, 61.6 x 47 cm
Signed LR and titled on verso
Floral in Blue Oval, 1990
Acrylic on cardboard
25 x 18 inches; 63.5 x 45.7 cm image size
32 x 25 inches; 81.3 x 63.5 cm framed size
Signed and dated lower right in pencil
Girl With Purple Eyes, 1993
Tempera on brown paper
11.75 x 8.5 inches; 29.8 x 21.6 cm paper size
19.5 x 16.12 inches; 49.5 x 41 cm
Signed LR in pencil
NFS
Flowers in a Circle, 1993
Tempera on paper
24 x 19 inches; 61 x 48.3 cm paper size
Signed and dated lower right in pencil
3 Blue Flowers, 1992
Tempera on brown paper
26 x 17 inches; 91.4 x 43.2 cm
Signed and dated lower right in pencil
- Sybil Gibson Featured in “Magazine of the Museum of American Folk Art” – PDF Download