Roy Gamble

Born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1887, Gamble's studies in the fine arts began during his senior year of high school under renowned Detroit Artist Joseph Gies. He continued at the Detroit School of Fine Arts where Gies was on the faculty, and which was headed by nationally known art educator John P. Wicker. His education took him to New York City first, where he entered the Art Students League of New York and studied under renowned artists William Merritt Chase, Jean-Paul Laurens, and Robert Henri.

In Paris, France where many of his works were exhibited at the world famous Paris Salon, he studied at the prestigious Académie Julian of Rue du Dragon and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. His works are held in the permanent collections of the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit Historical Museum, the Detroit Public Library, the Detroit Institute of the Arts, the Michigan State Capitol, the Michigan Supreme Court, the Broad Museum, Princeton University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University.

The major influences Gamble’s work were American Impressionism, French Post-Impressionism, as well as the Ashcan School and Social Realism ideologies. He also acknowledged the influence of James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

After his return to Detroit in 1914, Gamble created a series of six murals portraying the early history of his home city, which today belong to the Detroit Free Press. He also created a mural on the state of Michigan for the 1933 Chicago “Century of Progress Exposition”. Gamble was exhibited widely in Detroit and Chicago, in 1958 he had a solo exhibition at the Roy Davis Gallery in New York. He was a member of the Scarab Club in Detroit.