Early years
Charles Web Gilbert was born at Amherst, Victoria, in 1867. His father died when he was only 2 months old leaving his mother to rear 3 young children.
His interest in sculpture developed early. By the age of 9 he was working in a Melbourne café hand-modelling decorations for wedding cakes.
Career (sculptor)
Gilbert was mostly self-taught as a sculptor but he attended private drawing classes from 1876 to 1880. He also studied part-time at the National Gallery School under artists Fredrick McCubbin, Bernard Hall and G.F. Follingsby. It was not until 1908 that he established his own studio in Fitzroy.
In 1914, aged 47, Gilbert moved to London. When war started, he spent time working in a munitions factory.
In 1918, he became a lieutenant in the modelling subsection of the Australian War Records. With other artists, he travelled through France making studies of battlefields of significance.
He returned to Australia in 1920 and made sculptures for government war memorials.
In 1923, he resigned his position as head sculptor to pursue other commissions. He went on to create memorials at Broken Hill, Burnside, the University of Melbourne and St. Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne.
Recognition
Web Gilbert’s memorials can be seen in several Australian cities while some of his other works are held by galleries such as the Tate Modern in London and the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).
Death
Gilbert died in 1925 at the age of 57 from heart problems. He died while he working on a major memorial sculpture for the Desert Mounted Corps.
Bibliography
Adapted from material supplied by historian Dr Jan Penney, GMCT Trust member 2010-2020 and by the Friends of Coburg Cemetery Inc.
Australian War Memorial (n.d.) Lieutenant Charles Web Gilbert [website]
National Gallery of Victoria (n.d.) Web Gilbert [website]
Scarlett K (1980) Australian Sculptors, Nelson
Sturgeon G (1978) The Development of Australian Sculpture, 1788-1975 , Thames and Hudson
Sturgeon G (1983) Gilbert, Charles Marsh Web (Nash) (1867-1925) Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University [website]
