Harold John Wilde Gilman (11 February 187612 February 1919) was a British painter of

interiors ''Interiors'' is a 1978 American drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. It stars Kristin Griffith, Mary Beth Hurt, Richard Jordan, Diane Keaton, E. G. Marshall, Geraldine Page, Maureen Stapleton, and Sam Waterston. Allen's first ful ...

, portraits and landscapes, and a founder-member of the

Camden Town Group The Camden Town Group was a group of English Post-Impressionist artists founded in 1911 and active until 1913. They gathered frequently at the studio of painter Walter Sickert in the Camden Town area of London. History In 1908, critic Frank R ...

Early life and studies

Harold John Wilde Gilman was the second son and one of the seven children of Emily Purcell Gulliver (1850–1940) and John Gilman (1840–1917), curate of Rode. Though born in

Rode, Somerset Rode (formerly Road) is a village and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Somerset in England, northeast of Frome and southwest of Trowbridge. The small settlement of Rode Hill, northeast of Rode village, is now contiguous with it. The v ...

, Gilman spent his early years at Snargate Rectory, in the Romney Marshes in Kent, where his father was the Rector. He was educated in Kent,

Abingdon School Abingdon School is a day and boarding independent school for boys in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The twentieth oldest independent British school, it celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2006. The school was described as "highly ...

in Berkshire, from 1885 to 1890, in Rochester and at

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

, and for one year at

Brasenose College Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. Although he developed an interest in art during a childhood convalescence period, Gilman did not begin his artistic training until after his non-collegiate year at Oxford University (cut short by ill health) and after working in the Ukraine as a tutor to a British family in Odessa (1895). In 1896 he entered the Hastings School of Art to study painting, but in 1897 transferred to the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

in London, where he remained from 1897 to 1901, and where he met Spencer Gore. In 1902 he went to Spain and spent over a year studying Spanish masters. Velázquez and

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...

as well as Whistler were major early influences.

Marriages

At this time he met the American painter Grace Cornelia Canedy ''(''1869–1965), they had both been copying Velázquez in the

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. They married on 7 February 1903 in the garden of the United States consulate in Toledo, Spain. The couple settled in London (apart from a visit to her family in Chicago, when Gilman ducked pressure to join the Canedy family business). They had five children, of whom three survived, Elizabeth (born in London 19 January 1904), Hannah (born 4 February 1905 in Chicago), and David Canedy (born on 20 September 1908, at

Letchworth Garden City Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249. Letchworth ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

). The family address at this time was 15 Westholm Green, Letchworth. Grace Gilman left him in 1909, taking her three children to Chicago. The couple were later divorced. Harold Gilman was married, for the second time, to (Dorothy) Sylvia Hardy formerly Meyer (1892–1971), an artist he had met at Westminster and who had studied with him since 1914. She had their child in December 1917 and they married on 20 April 1918, on learning that Gilman's divorce had been finalised. After Gilman's death, in 1921 Sylvia married Leofric Gilman, his brother.

Painting career

Meeting

Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on d ...

in 1907, Gilman became a founder member of both the

Fitzroy Street Group The Fitzroy Street Group was an organisation created to promote and support artists. It was established in 1907 by Walter Sickert and merged in 1913 with the Camden Town Group to form the London Group. Overview In 1907 Walter Sickert formed the ...

(in 1907) and the

(in 1911). In the meantime he joined the

Allied Artists' Association The Allied Artists Association (AAA) was an art exhibiting society based in London in the early 20th century. History The Allied Artists Association was founded by Frank Rutter, art critic of ''The Sunday Times'' newspaper, in 1908. Its purpos ...

, moved to

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249. Letchworth ...

, and began to show influence from work of Vuillard as well as Sickert. Harold Gilman portrait by walter sickert

In 1910 he was stimulated by the first post-Impressionist exhibition at the

Grafton Galleries The Grafton Galleries, often referred to as the Grafton Gallery, was an art gallery in Mayfair, London. The French art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel showed the first major exhibition in Britain of Impressionist paintings there in 1905. Roger Fry' ...

, and visited Paris with Ginner. He soon outpaced Sickert's understanding of

post-Impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...

and moved out from under his shadow, using ever stronger colour, under the influence of

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inclu ...

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetism, Synthetist style that were d ...

and Signac. In 1913 he exhibited jointly with Gore, and became the first president of the London Group, and identified with

Charles Ginner Charles Isaac Ginner (4 March 1878 – 6 January 1952) was a British painter of landscape and urban subjects. Born in the south of France at Cannes, of British parents, in 1910 he settled in London, where he was an associate of Spencer Gore a ...

as a ' Neo-Realist', exhibiting with Ginner under that label in 1914. Gilman visited Scandinavia in 1912 and 1913, and may have travelled with the artist William Ratcliffe, who had relations there. Gilman made studies of the environment, and painted ''Canal Bridge, Flekkefjord'', an accurate depiction, whose subject is likely to have been inspired by Van Gogh's depiction of a similar bridge in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

."''Canal Bridge, Flekkefjord'' circa 1913"
'' Tate Etc.''. Retrieved 15 September 2008. Gilman had rejected Van Gogh's work when he first encountered it, but later became a strong admirer. According to

Wyndham Lewis Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited ''BLAST,'' the literary magazine of the Vorticists. His novels include ''Tarr'' ( ...

, he kept postcards of Van Gogh's work on his wall and sometimes hung one of his own works next to them, if he was especially satisfied with it. In 1914 he joined

Robert Bevan Robert Polhill Bevan (5 August 1865 – 8 July 1925) was a British painter, draughtsman and lithographer. He was a founding member of the Camden Town Group, the London Group, and the Cumberland Market Group. Early life He was born in Bruns ...

's short-lived

Cumberland Market Group The Cumberland Market Group was a short-lived artistic grouping in early twentieth century London. The group met in the studio of Robert Bevan in Cumberland Market, the old hay and straw market off Albany Street, and held one exhibition. Histo ...

, with

and (later) John Nash. In 1915 the group held their only exhibition. He taught at the

Westminster School of Art The Westminster School of Art was an art school in Westminster, London. History The Westminster School of Art was located at 18 Tufton Street, Deans Yard, Westminster, and was part of the old Royal Architectural Museum. H. M. Bateman described ...

where he influenced students who included Mary Godwin,

Ruth Doggett Ruth Thornhill Doggett (28 April 1881 – 23 March 1974) was an English artist and a member of the London Group, known for her control of colour and composition in landscapes, still lifes and interiors. Early life and education Born in Cambe ...

, and

Marjorie Sherlock Marjorie Sherlock (1897-1973) was a British painter and etcher. Three books of her etchings were published between 1925 and 1932. Her painting ''Liverpool Street Station,'' now in the Government Art Collection, was first shown at the Royal Acad ...

."Pupils and followers"
in ''The Camden Town Group'', p. 68, at thefineartsociety.com He then started his own school with Ginner. Gilman-Canal-Bridge

In 1918 he was commissioned to travel to

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

by the Canadian War Records; and painted a picture of Halifax Harbour for the War Memorial at Ottawa. He died in London on 12 February 1919, of the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

Legacy

Exhibitions were devoted to him at the Tate in 1954 and 1981, and he also featured in its 2007–2008 Camden Town Group retrospective at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

Gallery

Image:Gilman-Thames-Chelsea.jpg, ''The Thames at Chelsea'', 1899–1901 Image:Harold Gilman - Clarissa.jpg, ''Clarissa'', c. 1911 Image:Gilman-Sylvia-Gosse.jpg, ''

Sylvia Gosse Laura Sylvia Gosse (14 February 1881 – 6 June 1968) was an English painter and printmaker. She also ran an art school with the painter Walter Sickert. Education and teaching Laura Sylvia Gosse, known as Sylvia, was the youngest of three chil ...

'', c. 1913 Image:Gilman-Eating-House.jpg, ''An Eating House'', 1913/14 Image:Gilman-Portrait-in-Profile.jpg, ''A Portrait in Profile: Mary L. Harold Gilman'', 1914 Image:Gilman-Tea-Cup.jpg, ''Girl with a Tea Cup'', c. 1914 Image:Gilman-Doggett.jpg, '' Miss Ruth Doggett'', c. 1915 Image:Gilman-Mother-and-Child.jpg, ''Mother and Child'', 1918

Notes and references

Bibliography

* Helena Bonett, 'Harold Gilman 1876–1919', artist biography, October 2009, in Helena Bonett, Ysanne Holt, Jennifer Mundy (eds.), ''The Camden Town Group in Context'', Tate, May 2012, http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/harold-gilman-r1105360 * Robert Upstone, ''Modern Painters: The Camden Town Group'', exhibition catalogue, Tate Britain, London, 2008 * ''Harold Gilman and William Ratcliffe'', Southampton City Art Gallery, 2002

External links

*
Harold Gilman
paintings at

Harold Gilman
at Grove Art Online
Harold Gilman
in the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilman, Harold 1876 births 1919 deaths Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in England 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters People from Mendip District People educated at Abingdon School Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists