Gerald Morgan experienced his first art exhibit, a Rodin retrospective, in Tokyo. This experience fed his desire to pursue art as a career. Throughout the 1970's he was able to balance fine arts studies with work in graphic design. Since the mid-1980's, however, Morgan has concentrated on his painting career.
Around 1980 after exposure to the art of Spanish Painter Joaquin Sorolla in Madrid, Morgan began to focus on a painterly realist style. A forty canvas "Untitled" series ensued which featured swamp imagery and waterscapes, most of which found their way into private and corporate collections. Then in the mid-80's he began his three phase series "Image" and, at the same time, he produced a series of large canvases called "Notations" (notes on the water, the land). Morgan's work varied greatly in size and shape but maintained a characteristic painterly style, which continued, in subsequent series: "Diamonds" and "Shanshui."
A newspaper article in 1991 said of paintings at his one-man show at the Oak Ridge Art Center and Museum of Fine Arts, "Morgan reshapes landscapes... Often executed in shapes that could hardly be considered traditional."*
During this period, Morgan had several solo exhibits and his art began to be accepted into museum competitions: J. B. Speed Art Museum's "Eight State Annual, Painting 1982" (Kentucky), "Owensboro Fine Art Museum's "Mid-America Biennial" (Kentucky), "Realism Today" and "Mid-States Art Exhibition" (both at the Evansville Art Museum, Indiana); Tennessee All-State Annual Exhibition (Nashville, Tennessee)
After a trip to West France in 1994 Morgan was inspired to begin his "Brittany" series, an extensive opus of landscapes on canvas. This body of paintings, based on the French province of Bretagne, rich in Celtic as well as artistic tradition and impressive scenery, was exhibited in successful solo exhibit in 1997 at Galerie Vanhove in Quimper, France. That same year, the artist spent six weeks in Bretagne painting and gathering material that added more canvases to the Brittany series.
In the fall of 1998, his exhibit "Images of Brittany and Tennessee" was featured at the Parthenon Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. A return trip to Galerie Vanhove in Quimper ensued in 1999, where his work was featured in a one-man exhibit for the summer season. This was followed that fall with an exhibit at the Galerie Pacaud in nearby Audierne, France. Subsequent exhibitions at Galerie Vanhove in Quimper have been in 2005 and again in 2006.
Gerald Morgan's charcoal drawings were featured in American Artist Magazine in the November issue of 2004. One of his dance images was featured on the cover and a there was a feature article on his drawing technique as well. Additionally, in 2005, Morgan exhibited a solo show of his work at the Franco-Américain Centre in Manchester, New Hampshire in the U. S.
Paintings and drawings by Gerald Morgan are now in private and corporate collections in the southern and middle-eastern United States and in central France. His gallery representation is in Louisville, Kentucky, and Quimper, France. He was listed in the Marquis Who's Who in America (2000 & 2001 editions). His home and studios are in Sumner County, Tennessee, USA.
* The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge, TN/April 7, 1991 p.IB