Gilbert A. Franklin

Gilbert Alfred Franklin (1919–2004) was an English-born American sculptor and educator. He was active in Providence, Rhode Island and Wellfleet, Massachusetts; and was best known for his public art sculptures. His father was a jeweler. Two of his bronze works are prominent on the RISD campus, Orpheus Ascending and Daybreak (1968) the latter found on the "RISD beach". He had been honored as the H.M. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Fine Arts; Additionally he taught at San Jose State University,

In 1948, he was awarded the Rome Prize fellowship. In 1959, he won the grand prize at the Boston Arts Festival for his work, Beach Figure. Franklin was awarded the honorary title of National Academician (1991).

Franklin died at the age of 85 on October 19, 2004, in his home in Wellfleet, Massachusetts.

Public works Abraham Lincoln statue (1954), Roger Williams Park, Providence, Rhode Island; gift of the Henry W. Harvey Trust Orpheus Ascending (1963), Frazier Terrace, Rhode Island School of Design campus, Providence, Rhode Island U.S. Navy Memorial bas-relief (1991), U.S. Navy Memorial, Washington, DC Seaforms (1993), Wellfleet Public Library, Wellfleet, Massachusetts

Exhibitions 1993, Celebrating Long Point, group exhibition, Noel Fine Arts, Bronxville, New York 2004, solo, Picture Gallery, Cornish, New Hampshire 2016, The Bridge at the End of the Road, solo exhibition, John Spoor Broome Library Gallery, CSU Channel Islands (CI)