Ralph Gilbert

This is the Milken Archive’s poster showing the complete array of the commissioned paintings in a single image.

The environment for this painting and others in the series was inspired by drawings I made in Spain. In most old Spanish cities there were buildings that had been synagogs at an earlier time with old and obscured markings that identified them. 

This images depicts Miriam of the old testament, dancing with her tambourine after Moses parted the Red Sea. She is surrounded by archetypal Jewish musician figures of various periods. This was the original proposal commissioned by Jova/Daniels/Busby Architects.

Many musicians traveled from community to community to patch together a livelihood. In this and all of these works, the activity of music making is imagined; there are photos of klezmer musicians to be sure, but virtually all of those images are posed and therefore static.

A variety of instruments were used by itinerant musicians, though traveling with a double bass could not have been easy or common. Note the profile in the background, a somewhat hidden image that for me signified an interior musical experience.

The mandolin, accordion and violin were very commonly used in klezmer music. As you will see in all of these paintings, I tried to strike a balance between figuration and abstraction. My goal was to make the paintings evocative rather than merely illustrative. 

I am employing a rather irrational sense of scale and multiple points of view to give this work a feeling of movement. While these paintings were preceded by drawings, much of the final outcome was determined on the canvas and in the act of painting. 

In this painting the environment is reduced to no more than a ground plane and a shifting field of color. Sometimes less is more. 

I've clearly used a dominant blue color in this work. As I painted, I continually reduced the environment, leaving only a suggestion of a receding space and a path that disappeared into the figures. 

The somewhat distant hillside backdrop is taken from the White Villages in the south of Spain. I wanted these figures to seem monumental and for the color of the environment to penetrate the figures to unify the composition. 

This one became somewhat surreal, even though the mandolin player was depicted in a straight forward manner. There were moves made in this and some of the other paintings that I can't honestly explain, in spite of the fact that they felt entirely necessary to the work.  

Another rather surreal image, originally conceived as a wedding or celebration. But things change and images take on a life of their own. In all of these paintings I meant to convey a sense of space and light, as well as portraying those making or listening to music. 

In this painting I wanted to capture the intense concentration of the musicians.

This small work is no longer in my possession. I spend significant time on works on paper as independent images, but also as preparatory studies for larger paintings in oil on canvas. 

Watercolor at its best invites a playful freedom in the use of the medium. This is a full sized sheet of 22"x30".

I've stated "watercolor," but to be more exact the medium for this 22.5"x25" work on paper was coffee. This is a perfectly stable medium, though by now the aroma has dissipated.  

This is only 11"x10" and was done as a set with the following work of the same size. There are not many women to be found in archival photographs of klezmer musicians, but I was confidant that women must have been involved in music making nevertheless. 

This is only 11"x10" and was done as a set with the previous work of the same size. The clarinet was commonly featured in klezmer music.

This is done in charcoal with white highlights on toned pastel paper, 19"x23.5". The figures in all the drawings are invented without photographic reference. A major concern is to express musicality through gesture, the movement of the body while playing an instrument.

This drawing is 38"x50". I chose to work at that scale because of my emphasis on movement: I found the large format facilitated the development of gesture. Though I looked at early photos of musicians, all of these figures are done from imagination--in that way I could achieve the spirit of animation I desired. 

This drawing is 38"x50". In these works generally I wanted nothing to do with a folk-art approach to this subject. That would have been disingenuous as well as uninteresting. There can be an expectation of a fiddler on the roof, Chagall-style representation that I don't admire. 

This drawing is 38"x50". Though these works are informed by the history of drawing and the masters of times past, they are clearly not academic drawings. By that I mean that a demonstration of skill for its own sake is not the point, but that skill and craft are a means to an expressive end. 

This drawing of percussionists is 29"x41" and, along with a number of these works, was featured in an article in Drawing Magazine on the inclusion of clothing in figure drawing. 

This drawing is also 38"x50". Whenever I draw instruments I rely on a knowledge of perspective to move the instruments against the picture plane. I want them to define space by moving clearly from far to close. 

This large drawing, 38"x50", includes a close up of hands that are strumming an invisible stringed instrument. Hands have always been a challenge for artists and in this drawing and others I've tried to embrace that challenge.