Date post: | 05-Jan-2016 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | donna-baldwin |
View: | 124 times |
Download: | 0 times |
Charles Web Gilbert’s ‘The Helping Hand’: a
poignant symbol of personal and universal
experience.
Donna Baldwin
2
On first glace, the 1924 unveiling of ‘The Helping Hand’ in Shepparton was unremarkable, the memorial being just one of thousands built across the country to acknowledge the Great War’s dead:i the large attending crowdii heard the Governor commend their “fine spirit of self-‐sacrifice and noble sentiment”.iii Just as the memorial depicted a soldier “… ready to extend a helping hand to a comrade and friend when assistance was needed”,iv he urged listeners to “evince a desire to help those who had been deprived of their breadwinners.”v The statue has come to be among the most important of Australian War Memorials because of its inordinate beauty and the fame of its sculptor, Charles Web Gilbert. But to consider ‘The Helping Hand’ in this context alone is to ignore its symbolism in the sculptor’s life. Yes, Charles Web Gilbert was perhaps “one of the world’s … great figurative sculptors”,vi and like the Anzacs he portrayed in his war memorial work,vii
his is a compelling story of determination tainted by loss and great tragedy. Nevertheless, this is also a story of profound coincidence, good fortune and reciprocity. Almost one hundred years after it was unveiled, ‘The Helping Hand’ stands as a poignant reminder of deeply personal and universal experience.
When Gilbert’s father died in 1867, he left his young widow Nasaretha and three small children without provider or protector. Charles Web was only two months old.viii By the time he was nine, Gilbert was apprenticed to T.F. Gunsler, of the Collins St Vienna Café. He worked a 14-‐hour day, seven-‐day week (with 2½ hours off every second Sunday), for a princely 5s.ix Hard working and creative, his specialty was the intricately modeled decorations of the grand wedding cakes that filled the cafe’s windows. At the completion of his apprenticeship at 14, his weekly wage had increased to £2-‐10s-‐0d.x When twenty, he married Miss Alice Rose Eugenia Daniell.xi
Despite a long and successful chef’s careerxii,
sculpture was Gilbert’s passion. With few to no teachers in Australia, Charles D Richardson, himself a European trained painter and sculptor “known for the help he
Figure 1: Gilbert sculpted ‘The Helping Hand’ in his Fitzroy studio between 1922 and 1923. It was cast in France and unveiled by The Earl of Stradbroke in June 1924. This image, believed to have been taken by Gilbert, features an inscription in Gilbert’s hand: "To J.L. Treloar from C. Web Gilbert 5 July 1925". Along with CEW Bean, JL Treloar is widely considered to be the founding father of the Australian War Memorial.
3
gave to other artists”, encouraged him.xiii His first sculptures appeared in the late 1890’s and met with favourable review: “[Gilbert is] a young sculptor of pronounced talent”.xiv In 1901, The Geelong Advertiser declared “[s]culpture receives its ablest treatment at the hands of that gifted modeller [sic], Mr C. Web Gilbert, whose unveiling of Spring [sic] is a poem in the plastic art [and] … will go far to set the seal upon his fame.”xv Later, another reviewer found ‘Nymph of the Lilies’ an “exquisitely proportioned figure”.xvi
In 1906 he benefitted from the generosity of a “prominent citizen … [who] not only encouraged … but show[ed] practical sympathy” by commissioning him to produce some works in marble.xvii Patronage of the influential became significant to Gilbert’s career: public figures opened his exhibitions, commissioned him for works and promoted his interestsxviii and in 1914, American ex-‐pats Professor and Mrs Hugo Meyer gifted him the price of his SS Afric passage to London.xix He also enjoyed a positive relationship with a press whose reviews consistently supported his work: “ … “The Wheel of Life” could command attention in any art gallery of the world”.xx
While he continued in hospitality, and honed his skill in clay and marble after-‐hours,xxi Gilbert’s claim to posterity was in his bronze work. In the new federation, all bronze work was contracted to foundries in England and Europe. A pioneer in sculptural casting, Gilbert was entirely self-‐taught, expanding his Fitzroy studio to incorporate an in-‐ground furnace where he worked until well into the night, developing his founding skills in his ‘spare’ time. Gilbert invited friends and colleagues to visit and observe the process:
My Dear Croll, … I am doing a small casting on Thursday night about 8 o’c if you care to come along & bring your cousins you know you will be welcome there will be a few friends here …xxii
Sometimes, castings did not proceed smoothly: … he was standing straddle legs over the furnance [sic] which was sunken in the ground. In his powerful hands he clenched a vice-‐like pair of huge iron pincers. With these he gripped the fireproof urn which held the molten metal, and slowly raising [sic] it to the surface. He stepped quickly to the mould [sic], which was buried in the earth; the only visible part of it being the mouth which was to swallow the metal. Quickly the metal was poured so that it would run freely whilst hot, and fill all crevices of the bust. Down, down it ran. Then suddenly the opening choked, and the remaining metal spilled spluttering over the ground. It was like watching an angry volcano vomiting its deadly bile.
Web stood gazing at the tragedy with head bent as if in great sorrow, then without a word quickly left the shed. It was obvious he was in great distress. Weeks of labour and care had been lost by pouring the metal too soon in a cold atmosphere. The complete process would have to be done all
Figure 2: The Geelong Advertiser found Gilbert’s ‘The Unveiling of Spring’ “ … a poem in the plastic art [that] … will go far to set the seal upon his fame.”
4
over again, and only one who had experienced bronze casting, by the lost-‐wax process, could understand what that would mean. I was sorry to see this great man’s failure, and to see him fade from a tower of strength to a crushed and disappointed man.xxiii
Disappointments were common, but Gilbert was a man of resilience; his dogged determination saw his skills develop and his star rise. He was commissioned to produce works by writers Frederick McCubbin and John Shirlow, and public figures including Mr L. A. Adamson and Sir Edward Holroyd.xxiv Memorial statues were commissioned for theatrical producer J. C. Williamson, Melbourne Lord Mayor Sir Samuel Gillott and Premier Sir Thomas Gibson-‐Carmichael.
However, an abundance of willing sitters had not always existed and securing models proved difficult for painters and sculptors alike. Gilbert placed several advertisements in The Age:
Artist’s Model, man, clean shaven 40 years, tall, well built. After 2.30 pm … xxv Model, man, young, well built … xxvi Model, young, female, undraped, must be good figure …xxvii Model, female, undraped. After 3 o’clock … xxviii
Although it is unclear what response the ads drew, Gilbert’s requirement for a figure model featured in an unfortunate court case and the subsequent dissolution of his marriage. In a widely reported “Remarkable Divorce Case” in 1911, Alice Gilbert petitioned “that her husband had … misconducted himself with a servant girl in their employ”.xxix Mr Justice A’Beckett heard that Martha May Howard was employed “as a servant” in 1904, and that she “also sat for Mr Gilbert as a model”. Miss Howard also testified that “[Gilbert] sometimes took [her] in his arms and kissed [her].” Mr Kelly, for the petitioner, stated that “act[s] of indiscretion… occur[red] … in September, October, November, and December, of 1907 …”, that Mrs Gilbert found out three years later, “[w]hen the girl blurted it out” and so sought a dissolution. Infidelity then, as now, had the potential to cause great pain, damage lives and even ruin careers. Fortunately for Gilbert’s practice, fall out from the scandal is not apparent. He continued to draw commissions and his career flourished; the Felton Fund purchased ‘Bernard O’Dowd Esq.’ for the National Gallery of Victoria in 1913.xxx
Despite his success, Gilbert was not a wealthy man. He had steadily reduced his chef hours to allow more studio time, and purchased his Gore-‐st home and studio, but remained a man of modest means.xxxi Casting is not only heavy and labour intensive work, it is also
‘Adver'sing’,.The$Age,.12.Feb..1904,.8..‘Adver'sing’,.The$Age,.21.Sep..1906,.3..‘Adver'sing’,.The$Age,.29.Sep..1913,.8...
Figure 3: Gilbert advertised for models in The Age.
5
expensive; working by the ‘lost-‐wax process’ consumed as much as £50 in wax per pour, not forgetting the ‘tons of coke week after week, month after month’ required to fuel the furnace.xxxii Gilbert was also committed to weekly alimony of 30s. to Alice.xxxiiiHence, the gift of the price of passage to London in 1914 was a significant show of support to the emerging sculptor. His departure was preceded by “a [Victorian Artists Galleries] bohemian gathering …[at which] they smoked and wished him luck over mugs of beer and garlic-‐sausage”xxxiv and his benefactors, Professor and Mrs Hugo Meyer, “entertained [him] at their home ‘Abernay’ … to bid him “farewell and good luck””.xxxv London was to be a turning point in Gilbert’s life, but one that did not elicit the expected results.
He arrived just weeks before the outbreak of war, yet even his earliest correspondence revealed immediate reservations:xxxvi “ … this is a great place, but Australia is better … a fine place if one has lots of money.” Four days
later, a postcard declared, “I’d sooner be in Australia.”xxxvii Over the next six years, he wrote of his great yearning for the clean air, wide spaces and prosperity of home, indicating he planned to, or wished to return: “many times I feel like chucking it all, to get out to a free life and open country where things are more natural.”xxxviii He was clearly disillusioned that the affluent life he had imagined, failed to eventuate: … the people who one hears rave about London out there are those that have been here for a holiday & had
a good time, and have not seen the other side, and I can tell you it is a very sad one indeed, if one goes into the outskirts of the city day or night one can easily understand it the people are like an ant-‐bed, and competition is terribly keen … you see here, there are classes that is not understood in Australia …xxxix I often wish I was there instead of here. I think life in a free country & open air is worth a lot of this, it is a bit too cramped here for me. And would hate to think I would be here all my life. In very many ways it is very nice but I like Australia much better …xl
Although his work was well received in London,xli the consequences of war made art challenging and largely financially unrewarding:
Figure 4 (top): Front of postcard from Gilbert to RH Croll.
Figure 5 (above): Reverse of postcard from Gilbert to RH Croll, in which Gilbert declares: ”I’d sooner be in australia [sic].”
6
Figure 6: Gilbert exhibited in London where his work was well received. 'The Critic' (top right of this catalogue) was purchased by the Chantrey Bequest for inclusion in the Tate Gallery.
7
… things in the art world here are in a bad way, and manny [sic] of the artists are going to the war as there is nothing else for them to do … I have had visits from a couple of the R. A. and they thought very well of my work but they all say the same thing. No money.xlii … Marble is scarce and expensive, and there is the question of getting it to the Academy as carriers do not care to or are unable to get men to move the work. In fact at present artists are not wanted as it is not work of national importance. xliii
His letters reflected the difficult living conditions in war-‐time England, including rationing and food shortages:
I am a bit tired of this caldron [sic] where everything is boiling Art work here at present is almost out of the question the matter of moment is food which I am afraid will be acute before long!xliv
His dreams of prosperity and affluence were proving elusive. Ironically, the war also delivered Gilbert much needed financial relief:
I commenced doing my own bronze casting here and just as I got things together was stopped by the munitions people so for a while am doing munitions work. “Guage [sic]” making. A different job at which I work 12 hours daily at [sic]. xlv
Gauge making was essential to the war effort: light train tracks criss-‐crossed the Western Front and ran through the trenches, carrying essential supplies to troops on the front line and despite his ambivalence, Gilbert’s casting expertise provided reliable employment when art could not.
In a second change of fortune, Gilbert was invited to join the Australian War Records Office. Wallace Anderson was creating a team of artists to document Australia’s
Figure 7: Sculptors, painters and photographers of the War Records Office Section visited the sites of significant Australian campaigns, documenting battlefields for the dioramas that would feature in the proposed national war museum. This image, “Three unidentified members of the staff of the Australian War Records Section, sitting in the office”, in fact features Gilbert in the centre. The author has contacted the Australian War Memorial to offer identification.
8
battlefront experience for a proposed national museum. He called on Gilbert to discuss the appointment and discovered the family living in humble circumstances:
… I found him living in a rather small studio surrounded with finished and unfinished works and a section screened off for their sleeping quarters … he had married his model and had two twin boys … I was introduced to his wife of course and the two babies who were sleeping in two boxes in a corner of the studio … It took a good deal of persuasion on my part for him to even consider the idea of taking on such work as I was suggesting [my italics]. But when I explained to him the possibilities of what might eventuate for him as a finished sculptor in Australia he asked for time to consider the matter. … On my return to his studio … he told me that after talking it over with his wife he had come to the conclusion that it would be best for everyone if he accepted my proposition [my italics]. He then told me how tough things were in London and he and his wife would be glad to enjoy some stability for a while.xlvi
Gilbert’s three-‐year contract included a £500 annual salary,xlvii and although he had clearly accepted Anderson’s proposal out of necessity, the war -‐ yet again – had ironically provided relief and even opportunity while simultaneously wreaking loss and unimaginable global destruction.
Generosity played an important role in Gilbert’s life. Already the recipient of practical help in 1906 and again in 1914, his years in England were clearly made easier by friend JG Roberts’ steadfast loyalty and continued support, of which Gilbert was acutely mindful; the naming of sons ‘Hugo’ and Adrian ‘John’ were public acknowledgements of the generosity offered by Meyer and Roberts.
Between 1918 and 1920, War Records staff visited Europe -‐ often for weeks at a time -‐ painting, modeling and photographing the locations of significant Australian campaigns. One such visit Gilbert documented in a letter from Belgium:
My Dear Roberts, I have just arrived backe [sic] here after going over the whole British front line, having to go over the ground I must model for the war museum. I was over some of it before and made some models from positions given me by an officer with me, but on going over to London, found the positions worked from was incorrect. Consequently another officer came with me to show me the correct ones and one of them is the summit of Mont St. Quentin … I will be going there in two days time & will be there about two months, working on Mt St Quentin, Villers Bret [sic], Pozzieres, Bullecourt, Guizecourt & Moncourt and then on to Ypes area. xlviii
These ‘sketches’ would become reference sources for the proposed war museum exhibitions.xlix
Roberts’ son Frank, enlisted in 1917, and called on the Gilberts’ in London in a visit both men recalled warmly in letters home. In September 1918, just weeks before the war’s end, Frank’s Second Division 21st Batallion was involved in the re-‐taking of the French village Mont St. Quentin. He and twelve comrades were among the battle’s 1200 Australian casualties. On learning of Frank’s death, in an act of real generosity and compassion, Gilbert attempted to locate Frank’s grave during his work for the War Records Office: “[T]omorrow I am on my way to Peronnes & Mont St Quentin & will try & find Frank’s grave while there & get a photograph of it to send to you if I am able to do so.”l His initial efforts were unsuccessful:
Just to let you know I have not forgotten you while here. I am very sorry to tell you I have not yet been successful in finding Frank’s grave although I have gone all over the place looking at every cross I could find, do you
9
think you could tell me anything of the position or exact date on which he was killed.li
Two days later, Gilbert wrote the letter Roberts had surely dreaded receiving: My Dear Roberts, I am glad to tell you since writing last, I have found Frank’s grave; it is on the left – near the top of the mount. He lies burried [sic] with about twelve comrades. I expect the photographer here in a day or so & will try & get him to take a photo of the grave. I am unable to do so myself as the camera which I had went wrong & has been sent to London for repairs, and I don’t suppose I will see it again. As soon as I get a print from him I shall send it out to you & Mrs Roberts, we are having it very hot here just now and it has been very trying walking about especially among shell holes & trenches. One of the difficulties of finding a grave here is the fact that the Batallions got mixed up in the attack & one cannot trace the line up in some cases so well as it can only be done by the crosses dotting the line burried [sic] where they fell. I shall be writing you again before I leave here for Villers Brittenoux. With Kindest regards Web Gilbert.lii
A makeshift cross had been erected over Frank’s grave, and as promised, Gilbert secured photographs of the site, copies of which are now held in the Australian War Memorial. In time, Frank’s remains, along with thousands of others’, were removed from the battlefields and re-‐interned at memorial cemeteries developed by the Imperial War Graves Commission. Unable to travel to France, the Roberts family would surely have found solace in knowing the final resting place of their son and in Gilbert’s visit to his grave. Perhaps, for Gilbert, this gift went some way to repaying Roberts’ years of generosity.
After the War Records Office relocated to Melbourne in 1920, Gilbert’s career hit overdrive:
… “I have nine years’ work ahead of me in the War Museum,” volunteered Mr. Gilbert, in reply to a question of what the future promised. "In addition, I have about all I can do with the work in hand, going as hard as I know. When the foundry gets going— “ … liii
He was privately commissioned to produce sculptures of Alfred Deakin and Mathew Flinders. Seemingly, at last, Gilbert’s luck had changed; he was widely recognized as Australia’s pre-‐eminent sculptor with sufficient work to guarantee him financial security; he had resumed residency in Australia; and his “little ones” could now become the Australians he had always hoped them to be. There were, however, further tragedies awaiting Gilbert and his family.
The 1922 birth of the couple’s fourth child was proudly announced in The Argus: “GILBERT. – On the 12th May, at Sister Woff’s private hospital, Malvern, to Mr and Mrs Web Gilbert – a son (Adrian John).liv In a tragedy that echoed Frank’s Mont St Quentin death, ‘AJ’ died two weeks after sustaining burns in the family’s Gore-‐st studio as he lay in his bassinet. Both Roberts and Gilbert had lost much loved sons and just as Gilbert attended Frank’s battleground grave, so too Roberts attended the burial of the tiny infant. In an emotion laden subscript in Robert’ scrapbook, he recorded: “The baby died Thur 22nd June 1922 was buried in Coburg Cemetery I was present with Web”lv In a heartbreaking coincidence, another ‘helping hand’ of reciprocity was enacted through death.
But coincidence had not finished with Gilbert. Although his return to Australian shores cemented his career and promised him long-‐deserved prosperity, he ironically became a victim of the art he so tenaciously pursued. Unlike most sculptors, Gilbert is
10
Figure 7: The Gilberts considered JG Roberts a surrogate father, evident in Mabel’s letter (above) addressed “Dear Dad”. On the birth of their fourth child, they honoured Roberts by including ‘John’ in the child's name. This excerpt from Roberts’ Scrapbooks, also includes clippings announcing ‘AJ’s birth, his admission to hospital after sustaining burns in the Fitzroy studio, his death two weeks later and two photographs (one partially obscured) of Mabel and Adrian taken 19 May 1922. Roberts’ emotion laden subscript on AJ’s burial (bottom left), echoes Gilbert’s attendance at Frank’s grave in France some years before.
11
documented as not employing labourers to assist with the physical load.lvi From London he had described English sculptors’ practice of “do[ing] the design & leav[ing] all the rest to their man [Gilbert’s emphasis], who really do all the work …”,lvii and on returning to Fitzroy, he continued his practice of working alone. It appears this may have cost Gilbert his life. In late 1925, newspapers announced that Gilbert “has had a severe breakdown in health, principally due to over work and strain”lviii and that he later “died at his residence, Gore street [sic], Fitzroy, after a short illness.”lix Gilbert appears to have literally worked his body to death; that his will was signed only nine days before his death would suggest a sudden illness with an unhappy prognosis.lx He was just 57. In another sad coincidence, his death echoed that of his own father in 1867; he left Mabel and three small children just as William had left Nasaretha in the same circumstance, 57 years before. Fate dealt Gilbert a cruel blow, ending his brilliant career just as his decades of sacrifice, struggle and determination were reaping rewards.
And so to return to ‘The Helping Hand’, a strikingly beautiful work, finely executed, speaking still of the fearlessness of the Anzacs and the willingness of one man to offer his hand to a friend in a time of need. Ninety years of verdigris have only added to its symbolism, fulfilling the Earl of Stradbroke’s prediction to “promote beautiful thoughts which … lead to high ideals … that [we] must live not only for [ourselves] but also for the good of those amongst whom [we] live.” lxi
12
Bibliography -‐ Primary Sources ‘A Flying Visit to Shepparton’, Shepparton Advertiser, 30 Mar. 1922, 5, in Trove [online database], accessed 17 Sep. 2015.
‘A SCULPTOR AND HIS MODEL. REMARKABLE DIVORCE CASE. A DECREE GRANTED’, Age, 4 May 1911,9, in Trove [online database], accessed 5 Sep. 2015.
‘A SCULPTOR AND HIS MODEL. REMARKABLE DIVORCE CASE. A DECREE GRANTED’, Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW), 10 May 1911, 7, in Trove [online database], accessed 3 Sep. 2015.
‘A SCULPTOR’S ROMANCE. HIS MODEL’S CONFESSION. LEADS TO DIVORCE’, Argus, 4 May 1911, 10 in Trove [online database], accessed 4 Sep. 2015.
‘Advertisements’ Age, 12 Feb. 1904, 8, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015.
‘Advertisements’ Age, 21 Sep. 1906, 3 in Trove [online] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. ‘Advertisements’ Age, 29 Sep. 1913, 4 in Trove [online] accessed 4 Sep. 2015.
Anderson, Wallace, ‘untitled’, unpublished autobiography, 1972, 67, in AAA File [Artists], Ken Scarlett Archive, SLV (Melbourne).
‘ART EXHIBITION.’, Geelong Advertiser, 23 Dec. 1901, 1, in Trove [online database], accessed 5 Sep. 2015. ‘AUSTRALIANS PREFERRED.’ Truth, 15 Sep. 1917, 5, in Trove [online database], accessed 4 Sep. 2015.
ANZAC MEMORIAL. SHEPPARTON’S TRIBUTE TO SOLDIERS. OFFICIALLY UNVEILED. BY EARL OF STRADBROKE. APPRECIATION OF THE GOVERNOR. SOME PRACTICAL REMARKS.’, Shepparton Advertiser, 12 Jun. 1924, 11, in Trove [online database] accessed 3 Sep. 2015. ‘Bohemian Evening’, Weekly Times, 9 May 1914, 9 in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015.
“Elizabeth”, ‘AS A WOMAN SEES IT’, Graphic of Australia, 11 Feb. 1916, 7, in Trove [online database] accessed 12 Oct. 2015.
‘FEDERAL INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. THE ART EXHIBITS’, Age, 5 Nov. 1902, 8, in Trove [online database], accessed 4 Sep. 2015.
Gilbert, Charles Web, Clay model, Shepparton memorial [image], (1924), http://digital.slv.vic.gov.au/view/action/nmets.do?DOCCHOICE=3020404.xml&dvs=1439813531799~171&locale=en_US&search_terms=&adjacency=&VIEWER_URL=/view/action/nmets.do?&DELIVERY_RULE_ID=4&divType=&usePid1=true&usePid2=true accessed 17 Aug. 2015. Gilmore, Mary, ‘From Genoa to Gore Street.’ Life, (Melb.), 14, 1 Jul. 1910, 29-‐32, in Ken Scarlett Collection, AAA File [Artists], SLV. State Library of Victoria: RH Croll Collection, Manuscripts, SLV.
‘HONORING FALLEN SOLDIERS. Proposed Memorial and Selection of Site.’, Shepparton Advertiser, 29 Dec. 1921, 3-‐4, in Trove [online database], accessed 17 Sep. 2015. ‘MR WEB GILBERT’S SCULPTURE.’, Punch, 27 Oct. 1910, 29, in Trove [online database], accessed 2 Sep. 2015. Moore, William, ‘A Sculptor’s Life’, Studio Sketches, (1906), 61-‐2, in Ken Scarlett Collection, SLV.
13
Moore, William, Story of Australian Art, vol 11, (1934), 83-‐84 in Ken Scarlett Collection, SLV.
‘News of the Day’, Age, 7 Jun. 1911, 6 in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. ‘Professional Engagements’, Age, 30 Jul. 1902, 9, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. PROV, Supreme Court of Victoria, VPRS 28/P3 Will and Probate Index, 1596, Gilbert, Charles Web Marsh.
Richardson, Donald, private correspondence with the author, 27.08.2015. Shirlow, John, ‘C. Web Gilbert’, Art in Australia, 3/1 (1917), n.p.
‘Sweets for the Sweet’, Fitzroy City Press, 4 Nov. 1904, 3, in Trove [online database], accessed 5 Sep. 2015. ‘THE UNVEILING OF SPRING. BY MR. C. WEB GILBERT.’ Australasian, 14 Sep. 1901, 29, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. ‘WEB GILBERT. SCULPTOR OF THE SHEPPARTON MEMORIAL. BRIEF STORY OF HIS LIFE.’ Shepparton Advertiser, 21 Jun. 1923, 5, in Trove [online database], accessed 7 Sep. 2015.
‘YARRA SCULPTORS' SOCIETY EXHIBITION. ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF SCULPTURE AND PAINTINGS.’, Age, 29 Dec. 1899, in Trove [online database], accessed 12 Oct. 2015.
Bibliography -‐ Secondary Sources
http://www.web40571.clarahost.co.uk/currency/PreDecimal/predecimal.htm Inglis, Ken, Sacred places: war memorials in the Australian landscape (Carlton: MUP, 2005).
Richardson, Donald, Creating Remembrance: The Art and Design of Australian War Memorials [ebook] (Illinois: Common Ground Publishing LLC, 2015). 270. Rose, Margaret, ‘Richardson, Charles Douglas’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol 11, (MUP), 1988, available at http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/richardson-‐charles-‐douglas-‐8201 accessed 2 Oct. 2015.
Sturgeon, G. , ‘Gilbert, Charles Marsh Web (Nash) (1867–1925)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 9, (MUP), 1983, available at http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gilbert-‐charles-‐marsh-‐web-‐nash-‐6377 accessed 5 Sep. 2015.
Bibliography – Images Cover: Shane Trevena, ‘The Helping Hand’, [image]. 2015.
Figure 1: Charles Web Gilbert, H15609 ("To J.L. Treloar from C. Web Gilbert 5 July 1925") [image] available at https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/H15609/ accessed 5 Sep. 2015. Figure 2: ‘THE UNVEILING OF SPRING. BY MR. C. WEB GILBERT.’ Australasian, 14 Sep. 1901, 29, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015.
Figure 3: ‘Advertisements’ Age, 12 Feb. 1904, 8, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015; ‘Advertisements’ Age, 21 Sep. 1906, 3 in Trove [online] accessed 4 Sep. 2015; ‘Advertisements’ Age, 29 Sep. 1913, 4 in Trove [online] accessed 4 Sep. 2015.
14
Figure 4: Postcard from Gilbert to RH Croll, Croll, Robert Henderson, Papers, MS 8910, Box 1203/2 (b), SLV. Figure 5: Reverse of postcard from Gilbert to RH Croll, Croll, Robert Henderson, Papers, MS 8910, Box 1203/2 (b), SLV. Figure 6: Catalogue of exhibition, used by Gilbert as letter paper to RH Croll, Croll, Robert Henderson, Papers, MS 8910, Box 1203/2 (b), SLV.
Figure 7: B01373 [image] available at https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/B01373/ accessed 5 Sept. 2015.
Figure 8: Excerpt from JG Roberts Collection, MS 8508 Y, Scrapbooks, Book 17, SLV.
Endnotes
i For a comprehensive examination of Australian War Memorials, see Ken Inglis, Sacred places: war memorials in the Australian landscape (2005), MUP, Carlton. ii ‘[T]here was a dense crowd of people, practically, as one person put it, “All Shepparton, augmented by many from the outside areas.”’ ‘ANZAC MEMORIAL. SHEPPARTON’S TRIBUTE TO SOLDIERS. OFFICIALLY UNVEILED. BY EARL OF STRADBROKE. APPRECIATION OF THE GOVERNOR. SOME PRACTICAL REMARKS.’, Shepparton Advertiser, 12 Jun. 1924, 11, in Trove [online database] accessed 3 Sep. 2015. iii Ibid. iv Ibid. v Ibid. vi Donald Richardson, email correspondence with the author, 27.08.2015. In the same correspondence Richardson favourably compares ‘The Helping Hand’ to ‘Discoblus’. vii Gilbert produced more WW1 sculptures than any other sculptor. For a comprehensive examination of his work, see ‘Charles Web Gilbert (1869 – 1925)’, in Donald Richardson, Creating Remembrance: The Art and Design of Australian War Memorials [ebook] (Illinois: Common Ground Publishing LLC, 2015). viii In a 1920 ‘Letter to the Editor’, Gilbert’s mother (now A Clementson), corrected John Shirlow’s earlier published feature ‘C. Web Gilbert A Victorian Sculptor’: “[m]y son was not born at Kyneton, but at Cockatoo, between Maryborough and Talbot, on March 18, 1867. He was only two months old when I lost his father, being left with three children. I was then not 21 years of age,” Herald, (undated), AAA [Artist] File, Ken Scarlett Archive, SLV. ix William Moore, ‘A Sculptor’s Life’, Studio Sketches, (1906), 61-‐2, in ibid. x Ibid. xi G. Sturgeon, 'Gilbert, Charles Marsh Web (Nash) (1867–1925)', Australian Dictionary of Biography [online], National Centre of Biography, ANU available at http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gilbert-‐charles-‐marsh-‐web-‐nash-‐6377/text108933, accessed 5 Sep. 2015. xii “He was the finest chef I ever knew”. Mr Peterson, Stock Exchange Club quoted in ‘AUSTRALIANS PREFERRED.’ Truth, 15 Sept. 1917, 5, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. xiii Moore, ibid. xiv ‘YARRA SCULPTORS' SOCIETY EXHIBITION. ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF SCULPTURE AND PAINTINGS.’, Age, 29 Dec1899, 7, in Trove [online database], accessed 4 Sep. 2015. xv ‘ART EXHIBITION.’, Geelong Advertiser, 23 Dec 1901, 1, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. xvi ‘FEDERAL INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. THE ART EXHIBITS’, Age, 5 Nov. 1902, 8, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. xvii Moore, 62. xviii Lady Talbot (the Governor’s wife) and Sir Thomas Gibson-‐Carmichael (Melbourne’s Lord Mayor) were among his supporters. Lady Talbot was particularly taken with Gilbert’s work in the Victorian Artists’ 1906 Exhibition. Moore, 62. xix As early as 1899, Gilbert expressed desire to visit Europe. ‘YARRA SCULPTORS' SOCIETY EXHIBITION. ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF SCULPTURE AND PAINTINGS.’, Age, 29 Dec. 1899, 7, in Trove [online] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. A fare to England was out of the reach of Gilbert and most other aspiring colonial artists; the Meyers’ generosity was a significant turning point in Gilbert’s career.
15
xx ‘MR WEB GILBERT’S SCULPTURE.’, Punch, 27 Oct. 1910, 29, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. xxi By now, Gilbert was head chef at Parer’s Hotel in Bourke Street and the only time available for sculpture was after hours, often at night. Moore, ibid. xxii CWG to RH Croll, 27.03.1912, MS 8910 1203/2(b), RH Croll Collection, SLV. xxiii Carola (Ola) Cohn, 'Me in the making', (c.1941-‐48), autobiography, (La Trobe University) in AAA File [Artists], 131, AAA File [Artist] Gilbert, Charles Web, SLV. xxivAdamson was Head Master of Wesley College and Holroyd was a Supreme Court judge. Mary Gilmore, ‘From Genoa to Gore Street.’ Life, (Melb.), 14, 1 Jul. 1910, 29-‐32, in Ken Scarlett Collection, AAA File [Artists], SLV. xxv ‘Advertisements’ Age, 21 Sep. 1906, 3, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. xxvi‘Advertisements’ Age, 4 Apr. 1907, 3, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 1915. xxvii‘Advertisements’ Age, 30 Jul. 1902, 9, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. xxviii‘Advertisements’ Age, 12 Feb. 1904, 8, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. The advertisements specified “after 3 o’clock” or “after 2.30” presumably because he was working at Parer’s Hotel until early afternoon. xxixThe transcript of the case ran in at least three newspapers under salacious headings: ‘A SCULPTOR’S ROMANCE. HIS MODEL’S CONFESSION. LEADS TO DIVORCE’, Argus, 4 May 1911, 10, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015, ‘A SCULPTOR AND HIS MODEL. REMARKABLE DIVORCE CASE. A DECREE GRANTED’, Age, 4 May 1911,9, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015 and ‘A SCULPTOR AND HIS MODEL. REMARKABLE DIVORCE CASE. A DECREE GRANTED’, Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW), 10 May 1911, 7, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. xxxO. Serle, ‘Gilbert, Charles Web’, A Dictionary of Australian Biography, Angus and Robertson, 1949, 341-‐2, in AAA File [Artists], Ken Scarlett Archive, SLV. xxxiOn Gilbert’s death in 1925, his estate was valued at £3909-‐9s-‐5d including £1700 Gore St home and studio, £100 1 horse (Ben), £10 jewellery (gold watch, studs), £5 tools, some cash, and £1055 debt owed by Flinders Memorial Committee. Probate of £246-‐12s 1d was paid 13 Jan. 1926. Will and Probate: VPRS 28/P3/1596, File 205/200, Series no. 28, cons no. P3, unit no. 1596. xxxii John Shirlow, ‘C. Web Gilbert. A Victorian Sculptor’ Herald, 3 Jan. 1920, (n.p) in AAA File [Artists], Ken Scarlett Archive, SLV. xxxiii ‘News of the day’, Age, 7 Jun. 1911, 6, in Trove [online database], accessed 5 Sept. 2015. xxxiv ‘Bohemian Evening’, Weekly Times, 9 May 1914, 9, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. xxxv ‘COMING EVENTS’, Table Talk, 7 May 1914, 38-‐39, in Trove [online database] accessed 7 Sep. 2015. xxxvi Gilbert was a regular correspondent, writing to family and friends. This paper has greatly benefited from the personal archives of JG Roberts and RH Croll, both of which are available in the State Library of Victoria. xxxvii Gilbert to RH Croll, 12 Jul. 1914, MS 8910 1203/2(b)), RH Croll Collection, SLV xxxviii Gilbert to RH Croll, 4 Dec. 1914 in ibid. xxxix Ibid. xl Ibid. xli ‘The Critic’ was purchased by the Chantry Bequest for the Tate Gallery in 1916, a London exhibition “attracted a large number of art critics, who were most enthusiastic in their appreciation.” “Elizabeth”, ‘AS A WOMAN SEES IT’, Graphic of Australia, 11 Feb. 1916, 7, in Trove [online database] accessed 12 Oct. 2015 and Gilbert was nominated as Associate of the Royal Academy in 1917, only the third Australian to receive that honour. John Shirlow, ‘C. Web Gilbert’, Art in Australia, 3/1 (1917), n.p. xlii Gilbert to GJ Roberts, 21 Jun. 1917 in Roberts, GJ (John Garabaldi) 1860-‐1933, Scrapbooks, Book 3 Vol 111. SLV letter VPRS 28/P3/1596, File 205/200, Series no. 28, cons no. P3, unit no. 1596. xliii Gilbert to Roberts, 17 Sep. 1917. Ibid. xliv Gilbert to Roberts, 6 Jan. 1918 in Roberts, GJ (John Garabaldi) 1860-‐1933, Scrapbooks, Book 4 Vol 1X. xlv Gilbert to RH Croll, Dec 30, ’17 in MS 8910 1203/2(b). xlvi Wallace Anderson, unpublished autobiography, 1972, 67, in AAA File … xlvii Gilbert to Roberts, 28 Dec 1919 in Roberts, Scrapbooks, JG Roberts, Book 11. xlviii Gilbert to Roberts, 5 May, 1919 in MS 8508 Y Book 10 Vol. X. xlix The Australian War Memorial houses an impressive collection of photographs, manuscripts, diaries and other archives from the Australian War Records Office. Many of these have been digitised to coincide with the centenary of WW1. It is reasonable to expect this to increasingly become the norm as libraries around the world upload their collections and in so doing, offer universal access.
16
Gilbert to Roberts, 28 Dec 1919 in Roberts, Scrapbooks, JG Roberts, Book 11. l Gilbert to Roberts, 30 April 1919 in Scrapbooks, Book 10. li Gilbert to Roberts, 12 May 1919, in Scrapbooks, Book 10. lii Gilbert to Roberts, 14 May, in Book 10. liii ‘Web Gilbert. SCULPTOR OF THE SHEPPARTON MEMORIAL. A BRIEF STORY OF HIS LIFE.’, Shepparton Advertiser, 21 Jun. 1923, 5, in Trove [online database] accessed 4 Sep. 2015. liv Roberts Scrapbook, Book 14. lv MS 8508Y Roberts, J. G., (John Garibaldi) 1860-‐1933 Scrapbooks Book 14 Vol. X1111, SLV. lvi This may be open to some debate. In a 1923 visit to Gilbert’s studio to view the Shepparton Commission, Cr Fair reported that Gilbert’s ‘man’ removed the cloth that covered the work. ‘Web Gilbert. SCULPTOR OF THE SHEPPARTON MEMORIAL. …’ This may be worthy of further research. Either way, Gilbert certainly did more physical labour than typical sculptors and may have contributed to his early death. lvii Gilbert to Mr and Mrs Croll, 4 Dec. 1914 in RH Croll … lviii ‘About People’ Age, 28 Sep. 1925, 10, in Trove [online database] accessed 9 Oct. 2015. lix ‘Death of Mr. Web Gilbert.’ Age, 5 Oct 1925, 10, in Trove [online database] accessed 2 Sep. 2015. lx PROV, Supreme Court of Victoria, VPRS 28/P3 Will and Probate Index, 1596, Gilbert, Charles Web Marsh. lxi Earl of Stradbroke on unveiling ‘The Helping Hand’, quoted in ‘ANZAC MEMORIAL. SHEPPARTON’S TRIBUTE TO SOLDIERS. OFFICIALLY UNVEILED …