Artist Gamble

Roy Charles Gamble was born on June 12, 1887, the son of George and Lena Gamble.  His father, an Englishman by birth, had immigrated to the United States in 1876 and made a living as a brick mason.

A Detroit artist, Gamble painted ten portraits of Michigan Supreme Court Justices during his career–more than any other artist in the history of the Court’s portrait collection. To see images of his work, click on the links below.

• George Bushnell
• Henry Butzel
• Leland Carr
• Bert Chandler
• George Clark
• Louis Fead
• William Potter
• Raymond Starr
• Harry Toy
• Howard Wiest

Gamble recorded an oral history at the Detroit Institute of Arts for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, on August 26, 1968–four years before his death. He talks about going to Europe to study art in 1908-1909 and meeting Gertrude Stein & Henri Matisse, then going back in 1926 and meeting James Joyce & Ezra Pound. Click here to listen.