Marcel Gibrat, my grandfather, was a Restorer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and later owned a Madison Avenue Restoration Studio and Art Gallery one block from the Guggenheim Museum. From the 1960s to 1990s. Marcel was undoubtedly a genius and was, as far as I know, the only Restorer for the Met without a PhD. In fact he had a sixth grade education. He was also a talented painter.
I’m Max Lewin the curator of what remains of Marcel’s extensive art collection, comprising ancient, tribal, Asian and European art. Current items for sale can be seen on eBay by clicking here.
Marcel Gibrat, Restorer at work in his Upper East Side Studio In Manhattan in the 1970s.
Marcel was born in Grenoble, France on November 13th 1915.
While from a humble background, Marcel was a self taught and exceptionally talented artist from an early age. He initially worked in the trades. He could build or fix just about anything, and if he did not know how to do something he could figure it out. I don’t remember him ever bringing a car to a mechanic or calling a plumber, electrician or any tradesman for any reason, ever. Later in life he built a full size three story medieval tower on his property outside of Cold Springs New York out of cement blocks that he made himself! When my Grandmother finally sold the house the county authorities were none to pleased to find this unpermitted building on the property. Not to mention the Japanese Tea Pavilion and the forty-foot tepee.
In wartime Europe Marcel, the unlikely soldier, fought for the French army and was captured and escaped not once, but twice (!) from Nazi troops who were taking him to a forced labor camp behind German lines. My father, Jacques, who would later earn a PhD in mathematics from NYU (at age 23) and enjoy a tenured professorship at Syracuse University, was born the day before the French capitulated and the Nazi-controlled Vichy government came to power. It was about this time that Marcel met and wed my Grandmother Therese, a Jew, and became father to Jacques: my genetic Grandfather had gone to Palestine to fight for the future Jewish state of Israel.
The family made it through the war with Therese and Jacques masquerading as gentiles for the duration of the war. Marcel used his great talents to hand-forge food tickets among other exploits. The family stayed in France after the war and then emigrated to New York City in 1953.
After some struggles and a series of unsatisfying jobs Marcel started working as a Restorer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1960.
One of Marcel’s most striking restorations is pictured here.
Marcel restored these very large and impressive Assyrian stone lions from chunks of stone weighing up to several tons each by himself, with methods inspired by the ancients themselves. Marcel also worked extensively on the antiquities collection and had a particular affinity for and skill with, the restoration of classical period Greek vases, kalyx and other associated pottery. If you go to the MET today, you are still looking at much of Marcel’s work in the antiquity departments.
More information on these fascinating works of ancient art HERE.
Marcel was also invited to do restorations of antiquities by the renowned Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio.
Following his tenure as a Restorer, Marcel decided to open a studio and Gallery on Madison Avenue at 88th Street a block from Manhattan’s famed “Museum Mile” in 1964, He moved the family into an apartment on 91st and Madison, next to the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, where my Grandmother lived until her death at age 94 in 2012. She followed him into the business a few years later and opened “La Mansarde” two doors down from his Studio and Gallery. She specialized in European and American ceramics and jewelry.
Marcel began purchasing antiquities, tribal art, Asian art and European art beginning in the early to mid 1960s and many of the pieces in the collection were purchased at this time. He collected, restored, bought and sold high quality items for the better part of three decades, before falling ill and being unable to work in 1992. Marcel was an unquestioned expert in antiquities and all items in the collection from the ancient world are guaranteed to be authentic. Marcel also had a particular affinity for African tribal art, and while dating such items is problematic, he absolutely had impeccable taste. He started buying these items nearly sixty years ago when some of them were no doubt already quite old. He believed some to be from the 19th, 18th or even 17th century, and some of the items deemed important have in fact been sold for high ticket values at auction. Some of his opinions on provenance of tribal items have been challenged. There are also Asian items of various quality, and many fine and genuine items from primitive cultures including relatively contemporary ( a few hundred years old) and both neolithic and upper paleolithic items. Many of the items have archaeological markings.
Marcel Describes his Tribal Art Collection On Video
Marcel made these video tapes in the late 1980s describing his African Tribal Art collection and in many cases giving estimates of age valuation of pieces.