Canterbury artist John Gibb shown in his studio
Canterbury artist John Gibb shown in his studio
[ca. 1900]
John Gibb was born at Cumbernauld, Scotland, built houses in Glasgow and studied as an artist. In 1876 he and his family emigrated to Canterbury on the Merope. In Christchurch Gibb was an art teacher (Lady Onslow, wife of the Governor, was a pupil) and professional artist. He painted the West Coast Sounds and alpine scenery but his speciality was the "wonderfully realistic treatment of water in many seascapes and ... details of shipping". His pictures were notable for the "careful and painstaking work bestowed upon all the details". A fascination with the sky led him to abandon dinner and rush outside with his paints on seeing a particularly fine sunset outside the dining-room window. Gibb's "large-scale meticulously brushed oil paintings" are still popular with the public (Quotations from Gibb's obituary: The weekly press, 11 Sept. 1909, p. 11a)
File Reference CCL-KPCD07-0022
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