Frestonian Gallery is delighted to present Harry Phelan Gibb - A British Modernist Rediscovered: The Paris Years, the first major exhibition in decades devoted to British artist Harry Phelan Gibb (1870-1948).
Co-curated by Simon Grant, curator and writer, the exhibition brings together more than 20 works that trace Gibb's remarkable artistic journey through Paris in the early twentieth century, where he became immersed in the heart of the European avant-garde. The exhibition seeks to restore Harry Phelan Gibb to his rightful place within the history of British modernism. The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive catalogue including new essays by Simon Grant and John Campbell and includes generous loans from Towner Eastbourne and Salford Museum & Art Gallery.
Working across styles and techniques with striking independence, Gibb developed a fearless and experimental artistic practice that defied easy categorisation. This exhibition reintroduces him as a pioneering British modernist whose achievements and international standing have long been overlooked. It explores Gibb's formative years in Paris and the network of artists, writers, and collectors who helped shape his career. Among those within his circle were Henri Matisse, Juan Gris, Emily Carr and Gertrude Stein. As explored in Simon Grant's essay, it was through these relationships and the rapidly evolving artistic developments of the period, that Gibb forged his own distinctive modernist vision.
Gibb's growing reputation in Paris saw his work exhibited repeatedly at the Salon d'Automne, where he was elected a Sociétaire in 1909. His international recognition perhaps reaching its apogee in 1913, via a solo exhibition at the legendary Bernheim-Jeune Gallery - with a reported 1300 people attending the opening - and a few months later when his paintings were shown at the Armory Show: International Exhibition of Modern Art in New York. Gibb was one of very few British artists to be included in this landmark exhibition, alongside other pioneering European artists not least Matisse, Picasso, Cézanne, Duchamp and Brâncuși.
John Campbell's new catalogue essay focuses on Gibb's forty-year friendship with writer and collector Gertrude Stein whom he met shortly after arriving in Paris. Stein and her brother Leo Stein were among the earliest and most influential supporters of modern art in the city. The extensive correspondence between Gibb and Stein reveal a sustained intellectual and personal connection, marked by Stein's enduring belief in
Gibb's artistic talent.
The outbreak of the First World War forced Gibb to leave Paris and return to England, fundamentally altering the course of his career. In contrast to the receptive atmosphere of pre-war Paris, his radical modernist approach encountered resistance within a more conservative British art world and Gibb faced increasing financial hardship and professional marginalisation. Despite these challenges, he found support from a select group of advocates, most notably gallerist Lucy Wertheim, who represented him throughout the 1930s. Through exhibitions at her Burlington Gardens gallery, Wertheim helped sustain interest in his work during a difficult period of his career.
One day Phelan Gibb will doubtless come into his own, and his finest paintings take their place alongside examples of Manet, Cézanne, Picasso… in international exhibitions of modern art.
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Harry Phelan Gibb (1870-1948) is one of the great unsung heroes of British and European modernism. Born in 1870 in Alnwick, Northumberland, Gibb would go on to study in Newcastle, Edinburgh, Antwerp and Munich, before settling in Paris during the crucial early years of twentieth century modernism. During that time, Gibb fostered friendships with artists and writers at the heart of the avant garde movement, not least Gertrude Stein, Henri Matisse and Emily Carr. Alongside multiple exhibitions in Paris, Gibb's work would also be shown in London and New York, perhaps most notably at the epoch-defining Armory Show in 1913. Like many others, Gibb was forced to move back to Britain at the outbreak of the First World War. The following years he endured financial hardship and strong criticism of his 'new art'. Nevertheless, by the 1930s, Gibb found critical support though several patrons most importantly Lucy Wertheim, a renowned art dealer with a gallery in Burlington Gardens, London. Gibb died in Great Hampden, Buckinghamshire on 25 October 1948.
Gibb's works can be found in a number of prominent museum collections, including the Tate Gallery, London; Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand; Contemporary Art Society, London; Towner Gallery, Eastbourne; Salford Museum & Art Gallery, England; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Whitworth Gallery, Manchester; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England.
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Simon Grant is a curator, writer and art historian who lives in London. His recent curatorial work includes: 'Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector', Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (2026 and touring to Royal Academy, 2026 and Guggenheim New York, 2027); 'Louise Janin: The Echo of the Spirit Through the Rhythms of Life', GPS Gallery, London (2026); and 'Paule Vézelay: Living Lines', Royal West of England Academy, Bristol & Towner, Eastbourne (2025). He is the former editor of Tate Etc. magazine.
