Painter and sculptor Gideon dead at 86

MIAMI, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Painter and sculptor Elmo Gideon has died at his home in Thomasville, Ga., after a lengthy illness, his studio said Thursday. He was 86.

The exact cause of his death Tuesday was not disclosed.

The Kansas native developed revolutionary paints and sculpting compounds, technique, form and application that enabled him to create more than 20,000 original works of art during his life, Gideon Intermedia LLC, said in a news release.

In 1943, Gideon enlisted in the Army. Based in Camp Blanding, Fla., he was assigned to the 66th "Black Panther" Division and placed in Field Artillery. He was one of a few in his division who became an Army Ranger. In Salzburg, Austria, Army Ranger Gideon was charged with the task of guarding SS captives and tending to displaced persons.

"Gideon witnessed, firsthand, things that have haunted both his dreams and his waking hours through all of the intervening years," his studio said. "Obsessed by the visions he experienced, Gideon went on to paint and sculpt some of the most harrowing and poignant images of post-Holocaust Europe ever produced."

Throughout the 1950s and '60s, Gideon was contracted by many businesses to provide original commercial works. He went on to create many well-regarded paintings and sculptures, and his heavy, thick paint was often a staple signature of his works.

In November of 2002, Gideon left Miami after 56 years and moved to Thomasville, to get away from city life, his studio said.