Abstracts

In bold geometries and saturated hues, Gebhardt often explored beyond the forms of traditional portraits and landscapes.

Arthur’s abstract paintings reveal his willingness to experiment. He played with bold shapes and color and across styles and genres.

Family and friends remember these works as both playful and searching, alive with curiosity. 

His son Peter once described how Arthur often had “four or five canvases going at once, switching depending on his mood.” Sometimes, the abstract pieces emerged when a portrait or landscape felt too confining, giving him a place to work through emotions or spiritual questions.

Daughter Patty noted how he scoured art books and, as shown in his work, his abstracts were inspired by Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso, and Cubism generally.

While Arthur sometimes doubted whether his abstracts carried the same weight as his more narrative paintings, those close to him saw them as vital.

“He had a certain way of what he wanted to create. Sometimes, he really grappled with composition. He would change or start over, sometimes gessoing an entire canvas or it would be a long process of adjustments. He was very meticulous.”

He still always followed his instincts, she adds.

“I had recovered a couch in a pretty raspberry color and needed a painting for one wall. I said to him, ‘I could really see an abstract here,’ because that was what was in my mind. So he took one of the cushions home with the color and what came back was the trapeze artists. My husband and I laugh about it. We say, ‘There’s our abstract.’”