Arthur Gilbert was born on 16 May 1913 and would have been 102 years old today. To celebrate his birthday I have selected some exclusive images from our archives and compiled a list of ‘fun’ facts which will give you a taste of his extraordinary life and personality. Enjoy!
1. Arthur’s surname at birth was not Gilbert! Son of Lazarus and Bella Bernstein, two Polish immigrants, he was born in Golders Green, London. Arthur took his wife Rosalinde’s name at the age of 21, shortly after they got married, on 18 December 1934.
2. Arthur worked in the fashion industry, promoting and marketing Rosalinde’s designer brand of evening dresses.
3. Arthur and Rosalinde retired in their 30s, having made a small fortune. In 1949 they moved to Los Angeles, California, where they bought a replica of a Tudor manor house in Beverley Hills. Arthur re-invented himself as a property developer and made a second fortune.
4. Arthur coined the term ‘micromosaic’. As he was visiting local auction houses to decorate his new house in the Greco-Roman style, Arthur noticed a small painting that appeared to be made of minuscule tesserae upon closer inspection. He was fascinated and bought it. To differentiate this type of mosaic from larger work he used the phrase micromosaic, which has now become widely used.
5. Arthur was convinced that visitors needed to use magnifying glasses in order to appreciate truly and fully the treasures in his collection. He is known for chasing members of the public around the rooms of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art with such instruments. Our galleries are closed at the moment, but we usually have magnifying glasses at the disposal of visitors, a tribute to Arthur. If you want to see highlights from the collection in the meantime, I encourage you to visit our temporary display ‘Personal Favourites: Gold and Silver from the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection’ in Gallery 66 at the V&A.
6. Arthur was a keen tennis player. At the age of 86, he still played every day for one hour at least! His favourite outfit was a pair of pastel yellow shorts combined with matching shirt and socks.
7. Arthur was extremely found of dogs, in particular poodles as you can judge from the shape chosen for this flower arrangement at their Beverly Hills home.
8. Arthur had a coin minted with his profile for his 85th birthday and he gave one to each of the people he had invited for this special occasion.
9. Arthur commissioned a real-size wax figure of himself, now also part of the Gilbert Collection. This piece is currently in storage as it is very vulnerable to any changes in the temperature and humidity levels. (And yes, he was immortalised in his preferred clothes!)
10. Arthur shipped furniture and artwork from his Los Angeles office to Somerset House, where the Gilbert Collection was displayed from 2001 until 2008. A whole room was dedicated to this recreation of the space where he used to conduct business, with his pietre dure furniture and other works of art. His wax figure was intended to complete this very space.
