Geoffrey Arthur Tibble (27 February 1909[1] – 15 December 1952) was an English artist prominent in the Objective Abstraction* movement.

Tibble was born in 1909 in Reading, Berkshire, and was educated at the Reading University School of Art. At age 18, he entered the Slade School of Art*, London in 1927 under Henry Tonks, where he was a contemporary of William Coldstream.

Tibble was a significant figure in the short-lived Objective Abstraction movement. In 1934, Tibble exhibited abstract works at the Exhibition of Objective Abstractions at the Zwemmer Gallery, London (works described as "vortices in pigment, suggesting rather than representing something in nature") He later destroyed or overpainted most of the works from this abstract period.

After briefly experimenting with surrealism*, by 1937 he had returned to figurative painting, moving toward the Euston Road School of urban realism founded by William Coldstream.

In 1944 he became a member of the New English Art Club*. He also exhibited with the London Group, after his military service during World War II, Tibble had his first solo exhibition at Tooth's Gallery in 1946, showing 25 paintings, all interiors with figures, a format that became his signature style and developed his wider reputation. These were critically acclaimed for their "remarkable assurance, the certainty of aim and economy of means" and their resemblance to the work of Degas.

He subsequently exhibited at leading London galleries, including the Leicester and Lefevre galleries.

Tibble died in Amersham, Buckinghamshire on 15 December 1952, aged only 43. He was survived by his wife and two daughters.

Critical reception

A review of a retrospective exhibition said "His work—dingy but packed with period atmosphere—looks back towards the intimate interiors of Vuillard, and forward to the domestic squalor of the Kitchen Sink School".

Source:
Wikipedia, 2021

Geoffrey Tibble was an English artist who studied at the Slade School of Art under Henry Tonks. For a short while Tibble was a central figure in the Objective Abstraction movement, although he soon rejected abstraction in favour of more figurative painting, moving towards the Euston Road School, which was founded by his contemporary at the Slade, William Coldstream.

Tibble’s favoured style and subject-matter were with depiction of a contemplative female figure in an interior scene. This approach has led commentators to compare Tibble’s work with painters such as Eduoard Vuillard and Edgar Degas, the latter of whom Tibble himself described as an important influence.

Tibble’s work was exhibited throughout his lifetime, from his first solo exhibition at Tooth’s Gallery in 1946. His work is now in a number of collections across the UK, including in the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, the Ulster Museum in Belfast, the National Gallery of Wales in Cardiff, and the Arts Council Collection at the Southbank in London.