Sir Arthur (1913-2001, knighted in 2001) and Rosalinde Gilbert (1913-1995) – who were both from Polish Jewish families that emigrated to London in the late 1890s – built their early success through a mutual interest in fashion. Rosalinde, whose parents were tailors, worked as a seamstress and apprentice dressmaker for a London atelier when she met Arthur, whose father ran a thriving fur business. Shortly after they married in 1934, the couple opened their own womenswear label, Rosalinde Gilbert Ltd, near Oxford Street, where Arthur ran the business while Rosalinde designed the garments.
It was rare to find a female-led fashion business at the time, according to Minter, and even rarer that the business be named after its female owner. But the couple were not traditional, with Arthur even exchanging his surname Bernstein for his wife’s surname Gilbert.
They operated their store from 1935 until 1949, after which they moved to Beverly Hills, where Arthur became one of Los Angeles’s most successful property developers. From the 1960s they began to collect historic objects to adorn their home, and over time built a museum-worthy collection that included silver, gold boxes, snuffboxes, enamel portraits and stone and glass mosaics, many once owned by figures such as Queen Charlotte, Tsarina/ Empress Catherine II of Russia, Frederick II of Prussia, Napoleon Bonaparte, Sir Robert and Horace Walpole, the Churchill and the Rothschild families.
The collection was transferred to the UK in 1996 and has been on display as a free exhibition at the V&A since 2008, in line with the Gilberts’ belief that their art should ultimately be given to the public, and their lifelong commitment to charitable endeavours, including in the UK, Los Angeles and Israel. While the collection includes masterpieces by Jewish goldsmiths and silversmiths working across Europe, as well as decorative arts connected to Jewish court figures and patrons, Minter says Arthur Gilbert collected only two pieces of Judaica and only at the very end of his life: a pair of Torah finials and a gold Torah crown.
“For the Gilberts, while they were really committed and engaged with their identity, and they observed the holidays, I don’t think they called themselves religiously observant,” Minter says.
However, she adds that the two pieces of Judaica reveal a broader picture of Anglo-Jewish life at a particular time. “What’s interesting is that this pair of rimonim (Torah finials) belonged to Philip Salomons, who was one of the very first Jewish collectors of antique Judaica in the 1850s, and by introducing the story of Philip Salomons through this object in the Gilbert collection, we can branch out to David Salomons, his brother, who was the first Jewish mayor of London in 1855,” Minter says.
Rimmon, silver-gilt and filigree, engraved with bells and a crown finial. Netherlands, ca.1780. © The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum.© Victoria and Albert Museum, Lo
“So it’s this moment of emancipation of the Jews in the UK, when they’re finally able to access different echelons of society, and all that Anglo-Jewish history lives within this pair of rimonim that Arthur Gilbert bought.”
Tigress, micromosaic, Venice, Decio Podio, 1880-1890. Micromosaic with carved, pierced, gilt frame. © The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum.© Victoria and Albert Museum, Lo
The newly expanded Gilbert Galleries will dedicate a permanent room to art provenance research exploring Nazi and Soviet looting, using the objects in the Gilbert collection as a microcosm for wider art provenance research.
The display will draw from the V&A’s groundbreaking 2021 exhibition Concealed Histories: Uncovering the Story of Nazi Looting, which Minter co-curated to tell the stories of Jewish families who were stripped of their art collections by the Nazis.
“There is a historical context beyond the Gilberts, and way earlier than the Gilberts, that needed to be told,” Minter says. “And that is something that I’m still working on, but the Gilberts are one way to address that.”
The renovated exhibition, which is expanding from four to seven rooms, was designed by the award-winning architectural firm Citizens Design Bureau founded by Katy Marks. It will include touchable samples of rare stones and multisensory experiences designed to be inclusive of neurodiverse visitors and those living with dementia.
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection will open at the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington from March 14.
