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Richard M. Gibney Gibney grew up in Saratoga
Springs, New York, and graduated from Syracuse University before being drafted into the
Marines at the start of the war. Originally trained as a demolitions engineer and later
part of the Marine Art Program, Gibney saw and painted combat in many battles in the South
Pacific. He took part in five "D-Day" landing, including
Tarawa and Saipan, and was a survivor of the "Westlock Tragedy" in which the
ship he was on was heavily damaged in an explosion. He returned to the U.S. after the war
and continued his art studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and then in Europe
as part of a travel scholarship. Moved by his European study of stained glass and
frescoes, Givney designed and created the stunning stained glass windows for the Marines
Parris Island chapel. He also created 20 public murals in the United States. In 1993 he
completed what he calls The Oddyssey -- a semi-autobiographical series of 52 paintings
that detail the saga of a young marine in WWII. He now resides in Rockport, Maryland.
Source: http://www.pbs.org/theydrewfire/ |
