Gary T. Erbe (born 1944) is an American

oil painter Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

. He is self-taught, and he is best known for his ''

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

s''. His work has been exhibited at the Canton Museum of Art, the Brinton Museum, the

Boca Raton Museum of Art Founded by artists, the Boca Raton Museum of Art was established in 1950 as the Art Guild of Boca Raton. The organization has grown to encompass an Art School, Guild, Store, and Museum with permanent collections of contemporary art, photography, ...

, the

Heckscher Museum of Art The Heckscher Museum of Art is named after its benefactor, August Heckscher, who in 1920 donated 185 works of art to be housed in a new Beaux-Arts building located in Heckscher Park, in Huntington, New York. The museum has over 2000 works of art ...

, the

Baum School of Art The Baum School of Art is a non-profit community art school located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. In 2016–2017, the school had a total enrollment of 3,346 students, 1,921 of which were children and teens, and 1,425 of which were adults. 178 clas ...

and the

Reading Public Museum The Reading Public Museum is a museum in West Reading, Pennsylvania. The museum's permanent collection mainly focuses on art, science, and civilization. It also has a planetarium and a arboretum. Collection The museum's art collection cont ...

Background

Erbe's interest in art began at a young age when he became fascinated by the illustrations in his school textbooks. Erbe's stepfather, Frank Schaefer, encouraged and supported Erbe's interest in art and bought him his first art set. When Erbe was fifteen, his stepfather died and, in the following decade, Erbe produced very little art. At age sixteen, Erbe dropped out of school, and moved into a studio apartment in

Weehawken, New Jersey Weehawken is a Township (New Jersey), township in the North Hudson, New Jersey, northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located largely on the Hudson Palisades overlooking the North River ...

. Shortly after, Erbe met Edny, whom he married in 1963. One year later, she and Erbe had their first child, Kim, and five years later had their second child, contemporary artist Chantell Van Erbé. To support his family, Erbe worked as an apprentice at an engraving company and painted in his spare time. Erbe was particularly inspired by artists like

William Michael Harnett William Michael Harnett (August 10, 1848 – October 29, 1892) was an Irish- American painter known for his trompe-l'œil still lifes of ordinary objects. Early life Harnett was born in Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland during the time of the ...

and

John F. Peto John Frederick Peto (May 21, 1854 – November 23, 1907) was an American ''trompe-l'œil'' ("fool the eye") Painting, painter who was long forgotten until his paintings were rediscovered along with those of fellow ''trompe-l'œil'' artist William ...

, who applied the ''

'' approach to their paintings. ''Trompe-l'œil'' translates to "fool the eye", alluding to the way in which three-dimensional objects are rendered on a two dimensional surface. His work from the 60s involves assemblages of objects which have a thematic relationship with each other. Both the paintings and the assemblages which he paints are Erbe's masterpieces, and the assemblages have been included in his shows. In 1969, Erbe explored a more contemporary method to ''

'' called Levitational Realism, in which the objects in his paintings appear to be floating. In the following year, he quit his job as an engraver in hopes of becoming a full-time artist. In 1978, Erbe and Edny split and Erbe moved into his own studio in Union City. Through a mutual friend he met Anna Vedovelli, a local artist who lived nearby. The two married in 1979 but divorced three years later. By 1996, Erbe was married to Zeny Santos. They lived in his studio in Union City until 2006, moved to a condominium in Hoboken, New Jersey for three years, and now reside in

Nutley, New Jersey Nutley is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 30,143. What is now Nutley was originally incorporated as Franklin Township by an act of the New Jersey Legisla ...

. Since 1970, Erbe's work has been exhibited extensively in group and solo exhibitions. His work is in the permanent collections of various well-regarded institutions.Christine I. Oaklander, Ph.D., in ''Footprints: The Art and Life of Gary Erbe'', Youngstown, Ohio: The Butler Institute of American Art, 2016. In 2016, The

Butler Institute of American Art The Butler Institute of American Art, located on Wick Avenue in Youngstown, Ohio, United States, was the first museum dedicated exclusively to American art. Established by local industrialist and philanthropist Joseph G. Butler, Jr., the museum h ...

published a 300-page book on Erbe entitled ''Footprints: The Art and Life of Gary Erbe.''

Selected collections

Brandywine River Museum The Brandywine Museum of Art is a museum of regional and American art located on U.S. Route 1 in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania on the banks of the Brandywine Creek. The museum showcases the work of Andrew Wyeth, a major American realist painter, and ...

* Canton Museum of Art *Springfield Art Museum *

Phoenix Art Museum The Phoenix Art Museum is the largest museum for visual art in the southwest United States. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the museum is . It displays international exhibitions alongside its comprehensive collection of more than 18,000 works of ...

* Brinton Museum *

Montclair Art Museum The Montclair Art Museum (MAM) is located in Montclair, New Jersey, United States, a few miles west of New York City. Since it opened in 1914 as the first museum in New Jersey that granted access to the public and the first dedicated solely to a ...

New Jersey State Museum The New Jersey State Museum is located at 195-205 West State Street in Trenton, New Jersey. It serves a broad region between New York City and Philadelphia. The museum's collections include natural history specimens, archaeological and ethnograph ...

Woodmere Art Museum Woodmere Art Museum, located in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has a collection of paintings, prints, sculpture and photographs focusing on artists from the Delaware Valley and includes works by Thomas Pollock Anshutz, S ...

New Britain Museum of American Art The New Britain Museum of American Art is an art museum in New Britain, Connecticut. Founded in 1903, it is the first museum in the country dedicated to American art. A total of 72,000 visits were made to the museum in the year ending June 30, 200 ...

The National Arts Club The National Arts Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and members club on Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 1898 by Charles DeKay, an art and literary critic of the ''New York Times'' to "stimulate, foster, and promote public ...

, NY *

Salmagundi Club The Salmagundi Club, sometimes referred to as the Salmagundi Art Club, is a fine arts center founded in 1871 in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, New York City. Since 1917, it has been located at 47 Fifth Avenue. , its membership roster ...

, NY *

*John F. Peto Studio Museum *

Selected solo exhibitions

*1970, Pace Gallery, Houston, TX *1971, Veldman Gallery, Wisconsin *1976, The

, CT *1976, NJ Center for Visual Arts, NJ *1979, General Electric World Headquarters, CT *1982, The Alexander Gallery, New York *1983,

, NJ *1985, The

, OH *1985, Sordoni Art Gallery, PA *1985, The Alexander Gallery, New York *1988, The

, NJ *1988, The Canton Museum of Art, OH *1988, The

Westmoreland Museum of American Art The Westmoreland Museum of American Art is an art museum in Greensburg, Pennsylvania devoted to American art, with a particular concentration on the art of southwestern Pennsylvania. Art lover Mary Marchand Woods bequeathed her entire estate to e ...

, PA *1988, The

, PA *1995, The

, OH *1995, The

, CT *1995, The James A. Michener Art Museum, PA *1995,

, FL *1998, ACA Gallery, New York *1999, Springfield Art Museum, OH *2000, The

National Arts Club The National Arts Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and members club on Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 1898 by Charles DeKay, an art and literary critic of the ''New York Times'' to "stimulate, foster, and promote public ...

Grand Gallery, New York *2003, Harmon Meek Gallery, Fl *2008–09, Albuquerque Museum, NM *2009, The

, OH, 40 year Retrospective *2009,

, New York *2009,

, FL, 40 Year Retrospective *2013, The

, OH *2015, Canton Museum of Art, OH *2015, The

, PA *2016,

, New York *2016, Jonathan Boos Gallery, New York *2017, The

, OH, 50 Year Retrospective *2017, Brinton Museum, WY, 50 Year Retrospective *2018,

, PA, 50 Year Retrospective *2019,

Studio Museum, NJ, 50 Year Retrospective

Awards

* 1975, Julius Hallgarten Award,

The National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

, New York, New York * 1975, Gold Medal of Honor, Allied Artists of American Art, 62nd Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 1975, First Prize,

, New York, New York * 1982, John-Young Hunter Memorial Award, Allied Artists of America, 69th Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 1984, Gold Medal of Honor, Allied Artists of America 71st Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 1985, John Young Hunter Memorial Award, Allied Artists of America, 76th Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 1989, Emily Lowe Award, Allied Artists of America 76th Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 1991, Emily Lowe Award, Audubon Artists, 49th Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 1991, Gold Medal of Honor, Allied Artists of America 78th Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 1992, Beatrice Jackson Humphreys Award, Audubon Artists 50th Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 1993, Gilmore- Romans Memorial Award, Allied Artists of America 80th Annual Exhibition, New York * 1994, The Stefan Hirsch Memorial Award, Audubon Artists 52nd Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 1997, First Prize, The

99th Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 1998, President's Award,

, New York, New York * 1998, The Salzman Award, The

100th Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 1998, Gold Medal of Honor, Audubon Artists 56th Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 2000, The Alfred Crimi Award, Audubon Artists 58th Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 2002, First Prize, The

66th National Midyear Exhibition, Ohio * 2002, Silver Medal of Honor, Audubon Artists, 60th Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 2003, Medal for Lifetime Achievement in American Art, The

, Ohio * 2004, Visual Art Award, The

106th Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 2006, Gold Medal of Honor, Allied Artists of America 93rd Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 2007,

Medal of Honor, New York, New York * 2007, Gold Medal of Honor, Allied Artists of America 93rd Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 2010, Gold Medal of Honor,

National Art Museum of Sport The National Art Museum of Sport (NAMOS) was a fine art museum that focused on a sport theme. Sport art captures emotion: the anxiety of competition, the joy of winning, the agony of defeat. It depicts internal conflict: the pitting of honor and sp ...

, Indiana * 2010, Gold Medal of Honor, Allied Artists of America 97th Annual Exhibition, New York, New York * 2013, Received by the State of New Jersey Senate Resolution by Senator

Brian P. Stack Brian P. Stack (born May 16, 1966) is an American Democratic Party politician who serves in the New Jersey Senate, where he represents the 33rd Legislative District and serves Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He has also served as ...

* 2013, Received by the City of Union City, County of Hudson, State of New Jersey Proclamation by Mayor

and the Board of Commissioners * 2013, “Annie Oakley: Little Sure Shot,” The Nutley Historical Museum, Nutley, New Jersey * 2013, First prize, ''National Juried Trompe l’oeil Exhibition'',

Studio Museum, Island Heights, New Jersey

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erbe, Gary T. Living people 1944 births People from Union City, New Jersey People from Nutley, New Jersey People from Weehawken, New Jersey Painters from New Jersey American male painters 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists Trompe-l'œil artists 20th-century American male artists