New Acquisition

William Gilbert Gaul-Tennessee State Museum

More recently acquired by the Tennessee State Museum, are two significant oil paintings by William Gilbert Gaul (1855-1919), who was known for his war and battle scene depictions. The two Untitled works, painted towards the end of the artist’s life, portray World War I nurses at work on the battlefield, painted in Gaul’s impressionistic, dramatic style.

William Gilbert Gaul (1855-1919), Untitled (World War I Nurses on Battlefield), oil on canvas, 1914-1919. Courtesy Tennessee State Museum.

“Best known for his paintings of the Civil War, which took place while Gaul was a child living in New Jersey, [in these pieces] Gaul turned to the Great War that coincided with the last years of his life, bringing a looser style but the same capable rendering of the emotion and intensity of battle to this work,” explains Candice Roland Candeto, Tennessee State Museum curator of fine art.

Candeto further explains that both scenes depict American Red Cross nurses on the battlefield carrying a wounded soldier on a stretcher. “Regular army hospital units were not ready for service when the U.S. entered the war in April 1917, so the Red Cross stepped in to fulfill medical needs,” she says. “Six Red Cross Army base hospital units, including women, were ordered to France to aid allied troops. The Red Cross Nursing Service recruited and supplied nurses for the Army Nurse Corps (ANC). By the end of the war, the ANC grew from 400 to 21,000 women, half of whom had traveled to France.”

William Gilbert Gaul (1855-1919), Untitled (Two World War I Nurses Carrying Stretcher), oil on canvas, 1914-1919. Courtesy Tennessee State Museum.

Gaul never served in the military himself, due to poor health, but relied on his imagination and studies to render his subject matter. Gaul is also known as the youngest person admitted to the prestigious National Academy of Design at only 17 years old. He soon achieved international success through his exhibitions and published illustrations, and besides war scenery, he is recognized for his pastoral landscapes, Western portrayals and rural life.

While Gaul had roots in New Jersey, family also brought him to Tennessee in his younger years, and later in life, he settled in Nashville. Gaul’s history with Tennessee makes this acquisition all the more thrilling, as it provides educational and relevant insights to the museum’s holdings.