John Russell Taylor
on Gerald Wilde
'Galleries,' The Times, April 14, 1988
Gerald Wilde, Woman and
Fox , Oil on Paper, 1947-50, (Private Collection)
Gerald Wilde at the October Gallery
Gerald Wilde, another artist touched by surrealism and the symbolist strain, is now (until May 21) being commemorated by a large memorial show at the October Gallery. It presents virtually every aspect of this unruly genius's work and is accompanied by a slim but useful paperback book about him.
If you think the description or him as a genius is a bit strong, go and look at the show. Some of the work is casual or careless, but enough of it, right through from the meticulous realism of the Twenties to the symbolic abstracts of his last years is sufficiently powerful to warrant superlatives. Especially in the expressionistic paintings of the immediately post-war period, we clearly have a tiger by the tail. You might hate this work, but you could hardly stay unaffected by it.
© John Russell Taylorr