60

John Marshall Gamble

(1863-1957)

"Wildflowers"

Oil on canvas laid to canvas
Signed lower right: John M. Gamble; titled by repute
16" H x 20" W

  • Provenance:
    Sold: Christie's, Los Angeles, CA, "California, Western and American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture," April 25, 2007, Lot 58
    William A. Karges Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
    From the Collection of Robert A. Day

    Other notes:
    John Marshall Gamble is best known for his vibrant depictions of California's wildflowers and coastal landscapes. Born in 1863 in Morristown, New Jersey, Gamble's father worked for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which carried U.S. mail via the San Francisco-Panama City route. In the late 1870s, Gamble's family moved to Auckland, New Zealand, for a few years before making a permanent move to California in 1883, when the artist was 20.

    Gamble trained at the San Francisco School of Design under Virgil Williams and Emil Carlsen and later at the prestigious Académie Julian in Paris, where he studied under Jean-Paul Laurens and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant. In Paris, Gamble refined his technique and developed a deep appreciation for Impressionism, particularly the work of Claude Monet. His early exposure to both American and European art traditions gave him a unique perspective that would later influence his distinctive California plein air style.

    After finishing his training, Gamble returned to San Francisco, where he opened a studio. It's likely he would have remained in his adopted city for the rest of his career, except for the catastrophic 1906 earthquake and fire, in which his studio burned. Following his devastating loss, Gamble had initially decided to join his friend and fellow artist Elmer Wachtel in Los Angeles, but stopped in Santa Barbara en route, where he witnessed the wildflower bloom for the first time. Gamble opted to stay in Santa Barbara permanently, where he restarted his career, exploring the local landscape, coast, and mountains as subject and turning to an increasingly vibrant palette.

    In Santa Barbara, Gamble became a key figure in the region's art scene, serving as president of the Santa Barbara Art Association, and was an active member of the California Impressionist movement. He also taught and was President of the Board of the Santa Barbara School of the Arts, and was a color consultant for the Santa Barbara Board of Architectural Review for twenty-five years.

    Today, Gamble is best known for flower-focused landscapes, especially the vivid poppy fields and lupine-covered hillsides of the Central California coast. Although celebrated for his wildflower field subjects, he once commented, "I never painted them as flowers at all. I didn't even think of them as flowers while I was painting. They were just color patches to me. I simply liked the way they designed themselves across the field." (Santa Barbara News Press, April 3, 1956)
  • Condition: Visual: Overall good appearance. Fine craquelure and an old stretcher bar crease in the upper edge, primarily visible in raking light. As mentioned, the canvas has been relined.

    Blacklight: A very thin 11" horizontal, scattered band of touch-up in the old stretcher bar crease of the upper edge and a few more scattered, mostly pinpoint-sized flecks of touch-up scattered primarily in the sky of the upper half.

    Frame: 23" H x 27" W x 3" D


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