Gilbert was invited to join CoBrA by Asger John after he saw Gilbert’s work at the ‘Salon des Surindepéndents’ in Paris in 1948. Gilbert was associated with this avant-garde group until 1951 when he began to develop a more abstract aesthetic. This work was described by Gilbert as “one of my first abstract paintings”. Although minimal and reductive, ‘Abstract Forms’ is extremely bold and powerful, with thick paint applied confidently in large brushstrokes.
Stephen Gilbert (English, 1910 - 2007)
Born in Fife, Gilbert was the grandson of the sculptor Sir Alfred Gilbert, who made the famous Eros statue in Piccadilly Circus. Stephen Gilbert studied at the Slade School of Art from 1929-32 and exhibited regularly in London in the 1930s. He moved to Paris in 1937 but the outbreak of World War II prompted his relocation to Ireland, where he became associated with The White Stag group of refugee artists. In 1946 he returned to Paris where he remained for the rest of his long life. He was involved in several avant-garde art groups, including CoBrA, but in the 1950s he became more interested in abstraction and began exploring three-dimensional form and sculpture, influenced by modernist architecture. He returned to painting in the 1980s.
