Harold Gilman

1876 – 1919

English painter. He developed an interest in art as a boy, during a period of convalescence. He spent a year at the University of Oxford, but left on account of his health to work as a tutor with an English family in Odessa. On his return in 1896 he attended Hastings School of Art and then the Slade School of Fine Art, London (1897-1901). Afterwards he spent over a year in Spain, copying paintings by Velázquez in the Prado. He traveled in Norway. He also married an American painter, Grace Canedy, whom he met in Madrid. They settled in London, but after the birth of a daughter made a long visit to Canedy's family in Chicago where a second daughter was born and Gilman came under pressure to join his father-in-law's business. Gilman was one of the artists who gathered around Walter Sickert in London about 1906 and became known as the Camden Town painters. As a group, they attempted to adopt the French Impressionist palette and technique to the darker climate of England. His initial painting style resembled that of Pissarro and Vuillard. In 1911 he visited Paris and became interested in van Gogh and Cézanne. His still-lifes, portraits, landscapes and interiors moved increasingly towards Post-Impressionism . In 1918 he was commissioned by the Canadian government to paint a large picture as a war memorial in Ottawa.

View all works →