Gib Singleton
(1936 - 2014)
From his humble beings as a sharecropper’s son, Gilbert Jerome “Gib” Singleton (1935 - 2014) went on to become one of America’s most influential sculptors of his time. Gib’s distinctive style is internationally renowned and his bronze vignette’s offer lighthearted, honest glimpses into The American West and cowboy experience. Singleton’s unique combination of exaggerated form, muted detail, colorful patina, and vitality of gesture endows his work with an intangible emotive quality.
In his youth Singleton was rich with his parents support and encouragement, financial resources were however scarce growing up on a Missouri farm. Singleton had no choice but to turn to the most readily available and unconventional materials: pencil, paper, sticks, mud, and straw. The odds seemed staked against him. But, a man of strong religious conviction, his faith and strong work ethic enabled him to persevere.
Following high school, Gib served in the US Army, and earned a degree in art education from Southern Illinois University. He won a scholarship to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Fulbright Fellowship focused on the restoration of Renaissance art in Europe. He furthered his study at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence and was later recruited by the Vatican Workshop.
Singleton’s work is housed in major private and public collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Yad Vashem Museum in Israel, and the Vatican Museum in Rome. Pope John Paul II is among his collectors. Singleton’s crucifix capped a staff carried by the Pope.
