The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (185 page)

(1883–1908).
Austrian painter. His early painting was in the style of the Vienna
Sezession
, influenced particularly by the decorative linearism of
Klimt
. By 1905, however, he had developed a highly personal style of
Expressionism
. His finest works are portraits, notably two groups of the family of the composer Arnold Schoenberg , remarkable for their psychological intensity. He was a tormented character, and after running off with Schoenberg's wife he committed suicide. His work, which anticipates that of such painterly Expressionists as
Kokoschka
, remained little known until the 1930s.

 
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(1891–1939).
British painter. He was born in the East End of London to poor Polish-Jewish immigrant parents and he spoke only Yiddish up to the age of 8. In 1908–12 he studied at the
Slade
School, where he won several prizes. After the First World War he spent a good deal of time in the South of France for the sake of his delicate health (he had tuberculosis). Gertler was influenced by
Post-Impressionism
, but his style was highly individual, with strong elements of Eastern European folk art. His favourite subjects included female portraits, still lifes, and nudes, such as the earthy and voluptuous
The Queen of Sheba
(1922) in the Tate Gallery, London, painted in his characteristic feverishly hot colours. The Tate also has his only piece of sculpture,
Acrobats
(1917), and the painting that is perhaps his best-known work,
Merry-Go-Round
(1916); in this powerful image—probably a satire on militarism—figures spin on fair-ground horses in a mad, futile whirl. Gertler had many admirers, including distinguished figures in the literary world; D. H. Lawrence made him the model for the sculptor Loerke in
Women in Love
(1920). The word ‘genius’ was frequently applied to him, and he was seen by many as the acceptable face of modernism. However, he began to lose popularity in the early 1930s when he adopted a more avant-garde style characterized by a flatter sense of space and a greater emphasis on surface pattern. He had always been subject to fits of depression, and after the failure of an exhibition at the Lefevre Gallery, London, in 1939, he committed suicide.

 
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gesso
.

Brilliant white preparation of chalky pigment mixed with glue, used during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance as a
ground
to prepare a panel or canvas for painting or gilding. In preparing a ground the gesso was applied in several layers. When applied to frames and furniture it could be painted and gilded in the same way, and was often modelled (
gesso rilievo
). In the 20th cent. the term ‘gesso’ came to be used loosely for any white substance that can be mixed with water to make a ground; in reference to sculpture it often means
plaster of Paris
.

 
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Gestural painting
.

A term describing the application of paint with expansive gestures so that the sweep of the artist's arm is deliberately emphasized. It carries an implication that the artist's actions express his emotions and personality, just as in other walks of life gestures express a person's feelings. The term has been applied particularly to
Abstract Expressionism
and is sometimes used more or less as a synonym for
Action painting
. However, it can also apply to figurative painting, notably
Neo-Expressionism
.

 
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(1892–1976).
American oil magnate and art collector. Reputedly the richest man in the world, he amassed a large collection of works of art, his main areas of interest being, as he wrote in his book
The Joys of Collecting
(1966), ‘Greek and Roman marbles and bronzes; Renaissance paintings; sixteenth-century Persian carpets; Savonnerie carpets and eighteenth-century French furniture and tapestries.’ The J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, California, was opened in 1954, and in 1974 a new museum, housed in a re-creation of a Roman villa, was opened nearby. One of the archetypes of the eccentric, parsimonious millionaire, Getty lived in England from the 1950s and never saw his museum. On his death it became the most richly endowed museum in the world, and has become famous for its spectacular purchases (see
LYSIPPUS
), which have aroused fears that it would monopolize the world market for masterpieces. The J. Paul Getty Trust, founded in 1953 ‘for the diffusion of artistic and general knowledge’, administers various bodies, including the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities (founded 1983) in Santa Monica, California (a centre for advanced research with a large library of photographs and books), and a Grant Program, which assists, for example, with the publication of scholarly works.
J. Paul Getty Jr.
(1932– ), one of Getty's five sons by his five wives, lives in England and has been a princely benefactor to British art institutions; most notably he gave £50,000,000 to the National Gallery, London, in 1985.

 
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