Albert Edmund Gyngell – South African Artist, Paintings 1866 - 1949

Albert Edmund Gyngell was born near Worcester, England 1866 - 1949

Art Education
- Albert Gyngell studied art at Royal Academy Schools; under Sir Hubert Herkomer at Bushey (portraiture).

Short Artist Biography
- 1890 Albert Gyngell had a portrait accepted on the Royal Academy; while working in Bushey, he took seriously ill and on doctor’s orders he came out to South Africa.
- 1893 – c1910 Albert Gyngell worked first as a storekeeper on the mines, then became a stationmaster for Okiep Copper Co in Namaqualand. By 1910 he was painting and teaching in Johannesburg.
- 1911 – 1928 On the recommendation of Sir Hugh Lane, Albert Gyngell was appointed first Curator of the Johannesburg Art Gallery at a salary of R10 per week. During this time Albert Gyngell also lectured at the Teachers’ Training College and published lectures which he had delivered at the Gallery; was renowned for his knowledge of art history. He also taught art part-time at Roedean School, where Maud Summer was one of his pupils. Although he met his future wife, Amy Knutchball-Hugeson (m 1913), in the home of Lady (Florence) Phillips, a continuous feud subsequently marred relationships between the founder and the Curator of the Gallery.
- 1924 – 1949 Albert Gyngell was a member of the Consultative Committee on Fine Arts of the Johannesburg Public Library. He rarely exhibited, but his portraits, usually in charcoal, were well-known and much-admired; painted most Johannesburg mayors of the period.

Art Exhibitions
- 1924 – 1936 South African Academy Art Exhibitions, Johannesburg.
- 1928 One-man art exhibition of landscape paintings, Lezard’s Gallery, Johannesburg.
- 1936 Empire Art Exhibition, Johannesburg.

Public Art collections
Johannesburg Art Gallery; Africana Museum; William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley

Source
Berman, E. 1994. Art & Artists of South Africa . Southern Book Publishers.

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