Biography from AskART:
| | Born in Hungary on June 6, 1883. Gaal studied art in Europe and did a number of large public sculptures in Budapest, including the golden lions at Elizabeth Island Bridge, before immigrating to NYC. After moving to Los Angeles about 1925, he established a studio-home where he sculpted portrait busts, whippets, and commemorative coins. The facade of the Citadel off the Santa Ana Freeway, with its Roman chariots and Assyrian relief, is his work as are the interiors of Graumans, Pantages, and Egyptian theaters. He worked with Walt Disney on some of his early cartoon characters and then painted sets for Universal, Paramount, and United Artists. (The mask used by Charles Lawton in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" was his creation.) He was an equally fine painter of small, desert landscapes. Gaal died in Los Angeles on Jan. 31, 1973. Exh: Painters & Sculptors of LA, 1928-38. | Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
American Art Annual 1925; Interview with the artist or his/her family; Death record. | | Nearly 20,000 biographies can be found in Artists in California 1786-1940 by Edan Hughes and is available for sale ($150). For a full book description and order information please click here. |
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