VALTER GIBSON (1928-2002). Composition with figures, oil on canvas, not signed.

Approx 185x145 cm HISTORY: Valter Gibson: - from Valand - Nemes - Group 54 to Kulturhuset Stockholm's Auktionsverk has been entrusted to sell the estate of Valter Gibson, the artist who attended Valand art college with Endre Nemes as teacher.

Valter Gibson was born in 1928 in Lycksele, grew up in Stockholm and lived until his death in 2002 in Hallstavik. In the years 1952-1955, Gibson studied painting at the Valand Art School in Gothenburg, with the prominent artist Endre Nemes as teacher. Gibson belonged to the "generation 47-55" and was a member of the artists' association Grupp 54. It was founded by Nemes students who opposed the Gothenburg Artists' Club which was dominated by the Gothenburg Colorists and who opposed the new abstract and surrealist art.

In his youth, Valter Gibson was inspired by artists such as Evert Lundquist, Roland Kempe and Olle Nyman. But above all he was inspired by Endre Nemes and became perhaps the artist who most faithfully followed in his footsteps. Gibson was both a follower and a further developer of Neme's painting. The relationship is clear; the multitude of form parts, the use of image fragments joined in ornamental collage form and the dominance of black. The production of the 80s moved more towards a simplified and direct design language.

The color scale in Gibson's work varies from black and brown to yellow and blue tones. He paints in a powerful expressionist style, sometimes in a few austere colors and shades, sometimes in bursting colors. He worked with an assortment of oil paints, acrylics, collages, gouache paints, canvas and paper.

The paintings can be seen as X-ray or Rorscharch images - a series of fragmentary images with non-figurative symmetrical ink blots and a visual world of abstract crowds and flow of figures. Many of Gibson's paintings are structured as collages and resemble icons or altar cabinets. A painting can contain unexpected shapes and several events at the same time. Gibson himself characterized the art as figurative expressionism.

"I have a passion for collage and that's how it had to be." Perhaps it is an unusual collage technique. An essential feature of my art of painting is to seek a connection in time. That is the intention of my art. The meaning is not completely clear as long as a painting is emerging. Only when the work is finished is the meaning finally formed, I paint my way to a content and the images are created within me". I often use smaller paintings and sketches that divide my works, working with monumentality and imagery appeals to me" (Valter Gibson).

Valter Gibson was the artist who prioritized painting over exhibiting. Although he was very prolific, sales came second and he kept many works himself. Gibson was famous among fellow artists and art critics but the artistic integrity made him less known among the public. Gibson had exhibited sporadically since the 60s.

Solo exhibitions: Gallery 54 in Gothenburg 1959; Borås Museum 1960, De Unga i Stockholm 1964, Södertälje Art Gallery 1964, Norrtälje Art Hall 1987, Upplands Art Museum 1988.

Collection exhibitions: Lübeck 1955, Bochum 1955, Edinburgh 1955, Jönköpings Museum 1958, Landskrona Museum 1958, Sveagalleriet in Stockholm 1962, Silkeborg 1963, Oslo 1963, Reykjavik 1963, Helsinki 1963, Umeå 1963, Moderna Museet 1963, Young Artists 1958, 1920, 196 , Academy of Fine Arts 1967.
Kulturhuset 1988: A manifestation and collective exhibition of former Valands students to Endre Nemes. The intention was to highlight a side of Swedish art that is considered to have been too neglected. Other participants Erland Brand, Leif Ericson, Sven Erik Johansson, Mirjam Liljegren, Bengt Lundin, Acke Oldenburg, Bengt Olsson, Ronny Reyman, Ulf Trotzig and Jörgen Zetterquist.

Represented at, among others, the National Museum, the Modern Museum and the Gothenburg Museum of Art SOURCES: Norrtelje Tidning 27 February 1987, "Finally muttered for Valter", Sara Bergqvist.
UNT Uppland, 9 March 1988, "Hallstavik artist exhibits in Uppsala", Sune Walfridsson.
UNT Kultur, 26 March 1988, "Roreschach images of our present", Cristina Karlstam.
Upplands Art Museum, 20 March-17 April, Elisabeth Liljedahl and Dennis Wilhelmsson.
Norrtelje Tidning 23 October 1992, "The artist who would rather paint than exhibit", Elisabet Olsson.
Norrtelje Tidning 16 February 2005, "Abstract images with rhythm and movement", Margareta Levin.
Norrtelje Tidning, "Here it was art up the walls", Elisabet Olsson.