Alfred Gabali “Schooner under full sail”
A classic marine painting (oil on canvas ) of a three masted schooner under full sail in choppy seas and a blue and cumulus cloud filled sky. Signed A.Gabali at the lower right hand corner of the canvas. The painting is set in a fully restored period frame.
Alfred Gabali was born in 1886 in Germany. At 16 years old, he joined the crew aboard the four masted German trading ship Pamier that worked the north sea between Antwerp and England. He spent his formative years on ships with intermediate stints in a German Maritime School. He was eventually promoted to ship’s officer and on one of his voyages he met Scharns Alquis. Alquis was a well known and very successful German seascape artist who subsequently took Alfred under his wing as a tutor.
When World War I broke out, the 28 year old Gabali was appointed captain of a coastal patrol. The vessel was soon lost at sea during a storm but Gabali survived. There is no record of his activities during the rest of the war. Gabali surfaced again after the armistice of 1918. He returned back to sea but 1923 he settled in Hamburg with his first wife. He devoted himself entirely to painting seascapes with inspiration drawn from his years at sea. Slowly he started building a following for his art. However, the death of his wife in 1935 and the rise of the Nazi Germany, pushed Gabali to move to Holland with his second wife.
It took Alfred a couple of years to re-establish himself professionally in Holland. After Nazi Germany invaded Holland and fearing he might end up in a concentration camp or shot for treason due to his known anti-nazi sentiments, he went underground. He continued to paint incognito and not signing his work. Ironically during his underground years his biggest customers were German soldiers.
After the war, and Europe in ruin, Alfred Gabali emigrated to the US. He resumed his seascape painting career in New York City and Cape Cod where he became quite well known in the Hyannis area . This painting in fact was likely painted in the US during the late stages of his life. He died in 1963
Dimensions: 47″ ( cm ) W x 31″ ( ) H