{{Short description|American female painter (1908–1995)}} {{Infobox artist | name = Sybil Gibson | image = Sybil Gibson.jpg | caption = | birth_name = Sybil Aaron | birth_date = {{birth date|1908|2|18|mf=y}} | birth_place = Dora, Alabama, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1995|1|2|1908|2|18|mf=y}} | death_place = Dunedin, Florida, U.S. | known_for = Painting | movement = Outsider art, folk art, naive, self-taught | spouse = Hugh Gibson (m. 1929–1935; divorce),<br/> David DeYarmon (m. c. 1950–1958; death) }} '''Sybil Gibson''' (née '''Sybil Aaron'''; February 18, 1908 – January 2, 1995)<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Hood |first=John |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469607993_crown |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469607993_crown.130|title=The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 23: Folk Art |date=2013 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-3442-8 |pages=289–290 |chapter=Gibson, Sybil |jstor=10.5149/9781469607993_crown.130 }}</ref> was a self-taught American painter.
== Early life and education == Gibson was born Sybil Aaron in Dora, Alabama, to parents Lenora Reid Aaron and Monroe Aaron.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Bullock |first=Margaret |date=October 24, 1996 |title=Sybil Gibson |url=https://collection.mmfa.org/artist-maker/info/187?sort=3 |access-date=2022-05-02 |website=Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA)}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Her father was a wealthy coal mine owner and farmer. He owned and operated the Sulphur Springs Coal Company.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.folkartlife.com/articles/sybilgibson.shtml#.XPm_t9NKiL8|title=Faces are the Mirror to the Soul: The Folk Art of Sybil Gibson|last=Blokhuis-Mulder|first=Jantje|date=|website=Folkartlife.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151229214532/http://www.folkartlife.com/articles/sybilgibson.shtml#.XPm_t9NKiL8|archive-date=2015-12-29|url-status=live|access-date=2019-06-07}}</ref> She was one of eight children.<ref name=":2" />
She was educated at Jacksonville State Teachers College, earning a B.S. in Elementary Education before going on to become a teacher.<ref name="Ask Art">{{cite web| url=http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/biography.aspx?artist=108548| title=Sybil Gibson| work=Ask Art| accessdate=2007-12-23| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525005207/http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/biography.aspx?artist=108548| archive-date=2011-05-25| url-status=live}}</ref>
== Career == For much of her adult life she had no interest in painting, having had her ambitions crushed when a college art teacher told her she had no talent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.redkettle.com/biographies/sybil-gibson.htm|title=Sybil Gibson - Biography|last=|first=|date=|website=Mich Barnes - Redkettle Art and Collectibles|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024050123/http://www.redkettle.com/biographies/sybil-gibson.htm|archive-date=2007-10-24|url-status=live|access-date=2007-12-23}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=June 2019}} However, on Thanksgiving Day 1963, aged 55, Gibson took to creating her own wrapping paper designs using tempera paint and brown paper grocery bags. This led to a fascination with creating art which lasted until her death.<ref name="Marcia Weber">{{cite web|url=http://www.marciaweberartobjects.com/gibson.html|title=Sybil Gibson|work=Marcia Weber Art Objects|accessdate=2007-12-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021140134/http://www.marciaweberartobjects.com/gibson.html|archive-date=2007-10-21|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=June 2019}}
Howell Raines wrote in June 1971 that "the paintings are not over-powering, they are truly fragile in the best sense. The colors are very delicate, and while Sybil Gibson's work is figurative, her realism is tempered with a certain dream-like quality."<ref>{{cite news |author=Howell Raines |title=Here she is, Miami Herald, in Birmingham |work=The Birmingham News |page=E1 |date=1971-06-20}}</ref> Gibson chose to paint limited subject matter, mainly concentrating on the human form, particularly faces, as well as flowers, birds and small animals.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.cargofolkart.com/Artist%20Pages/GibsonS.htm| title=Sybil Gibson (1908–1995)| work=Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery| access-date=2007-12-23| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080128220327/http://www.cargofolkart.com/Artist%20Pages/GibsonS.htm| archive-date=2008-01-28}}</ref> Her style is considered 'folk art', and she is regarded as an outsider, or naïve artist.<ref name="Ask Art" />
In May 1971, shortly before the opening of her first art exhibition at the Miami Museum of Modern Art, Gibson disappeared, leaving drawings strewn about her yard.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.artnews.com/2018/01/19/masterpieces-margins-outsider-art-fair-triumphs-new-york/|title=Masterpieces from the Margins: The Outsider Art Fair Triumphs in New York|last=Doran|first=Anne|date=2018-01-19|website=ARTnews|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322012708/http://www.artnews.com/2018/01/19/masterpieces-margins-outsider-art-fair-triumphs-new-york/|archive-date=2019-03-22|url-status=live}}</ref> An eccentric woman, Gibson disappeared several times.<ref name="Marcia Weber"/> Around 300 of her paintings are believed to exist in museums and private collections, although many more have been destroyed after being strewn around outside her home when she disappeared.<ref name="Marcia Weber"/>
Gibson's work has been exhibited in more than fifty one-woman exhibitions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gingeryoung.com/categories/Sybil-Gibson.html |title=Sybil Gibson |work=Ginger Young Gallery |access-date=2007-12-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217051127/http://www.gingeryoung.com/categories/Sybil-Gibson.html |archive-date=December 17, 2007 }}</ref> [https://woodwardgallery.net Woodward Gallery] in New York City represented the Estate of Sybil Gibson from 2011-2016. In 2025, [https://woodwardgallery.net/sybil-gibson/ Woodward Gallery] formally acquired the Estate of Sybil Gibson.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.meer.com/en/8840-sybil-gibson-art-from-within |title=Sybil Gibson. Art From Within |work=Meer |access-date=2024-02-19 }}</ref> Her work is featured in various public museum collections including at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts,<ref name=":2" /> the Museum of American Folk Art,<ref>{{Cite web |date=1993 |url=http://collection.folkartmuseum.org/objects/2170/abstract-with-three-faces |title=Abstract with Three Faces |website=American Folk Art Museum |language=en}}</ref> the Johnson Collection,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Index of Women Artists |url=https://thejohnsoncollection.org/directory-of-women-artists/ |access-date=2022-05-02 |website=The Johnson Collection, LLC |language=en}}</ref> Birmingham Museum of Art,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-13 |title=Untitled, Sybil Gibson |url=https://www.artsbma.org/collection/untitled-329/ |access-date=2022-05-02 |website=Birmingham Museum of Art |language=en-US}}</ref> and the New Orleans Museum of Art.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://intuitiveeye.org/Portrait-of-a-Woman-by-Sybil-Gibson|title=Portrait of a Woman by Sybil Gibson - intuitive eye|website=intuitiveeye.org|access-date=2017-03-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028005623/http://intuitiveeye.org/Portrait-of-a-Woman-by-Sybil-Gibson|archive-date=2016-10-28|url-status=live}}</ref> Woodward Gallery featured Sybil Gibson in an expansive, retrospective solo exhibition, [https://woodwardgallery.net/art-from-within/ "Art from Within"], from May 10 - June 21, 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.artnet.com/market/new-york-gallery-beat-5-critics-review-12-shows-30460 |title=New York Gallery Beat: 5 Critics Review 12 Shows. |work=ArtNet |date=5 June 2014 |access-date=2024-02-19 }}</ref>
== Personal life and death == She married her high school boyfriend Hugh Gibson in 1929, with whom she raised a daughter.<ref name=":2" /> By 1935, she was divorced from Gibson and her parents were caring for her daughter while she went back to school.<ref name=":2" /> Despite her prosperous upbringing, she spent much of her adult life living in poverty.<ref name=":0" />
In the late 1940s she moved to Florida due to a sinus issue.<ref name=":2" />
From c. 1950 to 1958, she was married to David DeYarmon. The marriage ended when he died.<ref name=":2" />
Late in life, her daughter arranged for Gibson to return to Florida, where she had an operation to restore her sight.<ref name=":2" /> She died on January 2, 1995, in Dunedin, Florida, aged 86.<ref name=":2" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Sybil}} Category:1908 births Category:1995 deaths Category:American women outsider artists Category:American outsider artists Category:American naïve painters Category:Painters from Alabama Category:People from Walker County, Alabama Category:20th-century American women painters Category:20th-century American painters Category:Jacksonville State University alumni