Gilbert, Dick
Dick Gilbert, much like the celebrated Cornish naive artist, Alfred Wallis, received little formal training, yet his paintings reveal a sophisticated ability in the handling of paint. The three areas of sky, sea and wave of this work are composed of different paint textures, creating a sense of expectation at the 'Approaching Wave'.
A lorry driver, farm labourer, postman and head waiter; Dick Gilbert led various professional existences, but as an artist he was one of a small number of Cornish people to paint their native land. In his obituary of the artist in the Independent newspaper, Peter Davies describes Peter Lanyon (another Cornish artist) as being Gilbert's 'lodestar'. Like Lanyon, Gilbert was heavily involved in the artistic life of St. Ives as a member of the Penwith Society of Artists.
Tom Heaven
Approaching Wave
1965