Abstract Figure Studies #4 by Gerald Gladstone

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Gladstone started drawing at the age of eleven. He left school in the seventh grade but continued his own self education. Over the years he did many things but worked mainly in the field of advertising and was employed by the MacLaren Advertising Company. He did his first piece of sculpture in 1956 following his visit to Gordon Rayner’s solo show at the Art Gallery of Toronto. He studied welding for a number of months and by 1957 held his first solo exhibit at the Art Gallery of Toronto. As a result the Gallery purchased his work entitled “Female Galaxy”. In 1958 he exhibited at the Isaacs Gallery, Toronto, and at the Greenwich Art Gallery when the late Pearl McCarthy notes “Gerald Gladstone’s exhibition . . . includes steel sculptures. It is a harsh medium, but in pieces like ‘Marine’ Mr. Gladstone manages to boss the medium into a real abstraction of wind, seals, waves and elements.” By this time wider attention was being given his work; he held another solo show at the Isaacs Gallery in 1959 and completed two important commissions in Toronto.

In 1961 he received a Canada Council grant and went to England where he worked at his sculpture and painting and spent several months at the Royal College of Art. He exhibited at the Molton Gallery, London, in 1962 when Charles Spencer in The Studio noted, “The Sculpture is entirely made of metal, mostly spheres and rods. This combination immediately creates its own relationships; they remind one, for instance, of the anatomical drawings of Leonardo or Stubbs with their tensions and sinuous forms; also space travel, even science fiction . . . There is nothing frightening or spooky about these creations. They have their own logic and reality. They are always powerfully visual; complex and elegant, moving backwards and forwards, creating new variations, rather like a a Bach fugue. (Musical analogies are inevitable).” Spencer went on to say that he felt Gladstone’s work was not sculptural gimmickry and that he was convinced of the seriousness of the artist and that he was impressed with the artist’s results.

Gladstone returned to Canada and in 1962 exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and in 1963 held a solo exhibit of sculptures, drawings and paintings at the Dorothy Cameron Gallery. He enjoyed further success when three of his works were selected for exhibit at the Second Canadian sculpture exhibition in 1964 (sponsored by the National Gallery of Canada). Gladstone had a wide variety of interests including music – he taught himself to play the flute and enjoyed Mozart. Some critics see this musical interest in his sculptures.

Gladstone completed several commissions, including “Uki” his 37’ monster that breathed fire when it rose out of the water near the Canadian Pavillon at Expo 67. The monster gave engineers (working with Gladstone) problems they had not previously encountered. He is represented in many public and private collection including the Vancouver Art Gallery, the National Gallery Canada and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Source: "A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume II”, compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1979