Albany Prison inmate Jim Gilbert left incarceration on the Isle of Wight to collect £8,000 (£73,000 in today’s values) on 30th August 1974.
However, the money Jim Gilbert collected was not the ill-gotten gains of crime, but rather money he had earned from the sale of his paintings. Jim Gilbert was a big, powerful man who spent years in jail for crimes ranging from drug smuggling to robbery. By 1974, the 40-year-old had spent half his life in prison.
However, on his last sentence – 6 years for handling stolen property and theft of a car – he decided to take up painting.
His paintings reflected his harsh life experiences. He depicted drunkards in busy bar interiors, street scenes, market traders and local school children. His paintings have an earthy frankness and reality expressing human character from the centre of a tight-knit East End community.
2 years before his release, Jim held his first exhibition in Bath. He received the Arthur Koestler Award for Prisoner Art and in 1973 was chosen by The Dylan Thomas Society to paint a portrait of Thomas for presentation to United States President Jimmy Carter. Prior to his release, Jim said:
“I only really started to paint because I was in the nick. Now I am coming out I have got a chance of going straight and having a few quid just to survive.”
The Isle of Wight prisons were a hotbed for art in the late 20th century, with the works of the likes of Ron Kray and Charles Bronson being exhibited and sold for significant sums. Jim died in Spain in 1995.
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