Charles Allan Gilbert
Charles Allan Gilbert (September 3, 1873 – April 20, 1929), better known as C. Allan Gilbert, was an American
It is less widely known that Gilbert was an early contributor to
Background
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Gilbert was the youngest of the three sons of Charles Edwin Gilbert and Virginia Ewing Crane. As a child, he was an invalid (the circumstances of which are unclear), with the result that he often made drawings for self-amusement (Leonard 1913).
At age sixteen, he began to study art with
Illustration career
Returning from Paris, Gilbert settled in New York, where he embarked on an active career as an illustrator of books, magazines, posters and calendars. His illustrations were frequently published in
In the course of his artistic career, Gilbert illustrated a large number of books, among them
Work as an animator
As an early contributor to animated films (Grant, p. 49), Gilbert worked for
Camouflage service
During World War I, Gilbert served as a camouflage artist for the U.S. Shipping Board (the
Later years
Throughout his life (and still today), Gilbert was so strongly identified with his drawing All Is Vanity that he is sometimes mistakenly credited with two other popular double image artworks, Gossip: And the Devil Was There, and Social Donkey, both of which were apparently made by another illustrator of the same time period, George A. Wotherspoon.
Gilbert continued to live in New York during the remainder of his life, but he often spent his summers on Monhegan Island in Maine. He died in New York of pneumonia at age 55.
See also
- Bray Productions
- Camouflage
- William Mackay
- Optical Illusion
- Retro Active
- United States Shipping Board
References
- ^ "Ecclesiastes 1:2". Bible Gateway.
Sources
- Ecclesiastes 1 from The Holy Bible.
- Bachman, Gregg, and Thomas J. Slater, eds., American Silent Film: Discovering Marginalized Voices. Carbondale: South Illinois University, 2002, pp. 261–262.
- "Charles Allan Gilbert" in John W. Leonard, ed., Who’s Who in America. Vol 7, 1913, p. 800.
- Crafton, Donald, Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898-1928. University of Chicago Press, 1993.
- “'Girl of To-Day' Jury Famous For American Types" in New York Times, December 7, 1913, p. SM5.
- Grant, John, Masters of Animation. New York: Watson Guptil, 2001.
- “Charles Allen[sic] Gilbert” at Sandlot Science
- “U.S. Shipping Board” in Roy R. Behrens, Camoupedia: A Compendium of Research on Art, Architecture and Camouflage. Dysart, Iowa: Bobolink Books, 2009.
External links
- Media related to Charles Allan Gilbert at Wikimedia Commons
- Works by C. Allan Gilbert at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Charles Allan Gilbert at Internet Archive
- C. Allan Gilbert at IMDb