|
Historical Artist - Albert Edmund Gyngell (1866 - 1949)
Albert Edmund Gyngell was born near Worcester, England 1866 - 1949
Art Education
- Albert Gyngell studied art at Royal Academy Schools; under Sir Hubert Herkomer at Bushey
(portraiture).
Short Artist Biography
- 1890 Albert Gyngell had a portrait accepted on the Royal Academy; while working in Bushey, he
took seriously ill and on doctor’s orders he came out to South Africa.
- 1893 – c1910 Albert Gyngell worked first as a storekeeper on the mines, then became a
stationmaster for Okiep Copper Co in Namaqualand. By 1910 he was painting and teaching in
Johannesburg.
- 1911 – 1928 On the recommendation of Sir Hugh Lane, Albert Gyngell was appointed first
Curator of the Johannesburg Art Gallery at a salary of R10 per week. During this time Albert
Gyngell also lectured at the Teachers’ Training College and published lectures which he
had delivered at the Gallery; was renowned for his knowledge of art history. He also taught art
part-time at Roedean School, where Maud Summer was one of his pupils. Although he met his future
wife, Amy Knutchball-Hugeson (m 1913), in the home of Lady (Florence) Phillips, a continuous
feud subsequently marred relationships between the founder and the Curator of the Gallery.
- 1924 – 1949 Albert Gyngell was a member of the Consultative Committee on Fine Arts of
the Johannesburg Public Library. He rarely exhibited, but his portraits, usually in charcoal,
were well-known and much-admired; painted most Johannesburg mayors of the period.
Art Exhibitions
- 1924 – 1936 South African Academy Art Exhibitions, Johannesburg.
- 1928 One-man art exhibition of landscape paintings, Lezard’s Gallery,
Johannesburg.
- 1936 Empire Art Exhibition, Johannesburg.
Public Art collections
Johannesburg Art Gallery; Africana Museum; William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley
Source
Berman, E. 1994. Art & Artists of South Africa . Southern Book Publishers.
Contemporary South African Artists
Art Galleries in South Africa
|
