17 Facts About Gibson Byrd

Decatur Gibson Byrd, was an American painter of Shawnee ancestry known for landscape and figurative paintings.

Gibson Byrd was a master of coloristic subtleties and atmospheric effects, and his work often emphasized social commentary and injustice, and the angst and banality of modern materialism.

Gibson Byrd was married to Benita Springer and had two children.

Gibson Byrd joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison Art Department faculty in 1955, taught until retiring due to Parkinson's disease in 1985, and then was Professor Emeritus until 2002.

At the UW-Madison, Gibson Byrd was a contemporary of other prominent artists including Aaron Bohrod, Warrington Colescott, Raymond Gloeckler, Walter Hamady, Harvey Littleton, Alfred Sessler, John Wilde, and Santos Zingale.

Gibson Byrd had compelling integrity as both an artist and a teacher.

Gibson Byrd was extremely active and engaged in a wide range of public service and outreach activities tied to the larger art community in Wisconsin.

Gibson Byrd served on numerous UW committees throughout his tenure, such as the Elvehjem Art Center planning, building and policy committees.

Gibson Byrd was often asked to serve on various committees owing to his Shawnee heritage, such as the student-faculty ad hoc Committee on Native American programs and the Native American Studies Committee.

Early influences on Gibson Byrd included the abstract expressionists and modernists Lyonel Feininger, Willem de Kooning, John Marin, and Mark Rothko, as well as the realist Edward Hopper.

Around 1980 Gibson Byrd turned away from a narrative, psychological approach and focused his work on the rural landscapes, receiving widespread recognition for this shift in style that emphasized composition, lighting, and mood.

Gibson Byrd's strong feel for landscapes was in part derived from his Indian heritage - his grandmother was a Shawnee Indian and he was a qualified member of the Shawnee Tribe.

An artist-observer, Gibson Byrd's work explored human loneliness and isolation, frequently provided social commentary, showcased social fairness and justice, and often lampooned the status quo and materialism.

In doing so, Gibson Byrd painted the house as it appears today and in the conflicting ways he remembered it.

Gibson Byrd shifted to painting rural landscapes in 1979, soon after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Gibson Byrd's work has been periodically exhibited since then, including a 2008 retrospective, and a 2020 one-person exhibit at the Shawnee Tribe Cultural Center, Miami, Oklahoma.

Paintings by Gibson Byrd are in many public and private collections, mostly in the Midwest.