American 1837 - 1903

Born in Madison, CT on April 14, 1837, Gilbert David Munger was educated in New Haven. At age 14 he began working as an engraver at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. He founded the Bureau of Lithography and shared quarters with engraver Wm H. Dougal. After serving in the Civil War as lieutenant of engineers, he sketched in the Rockies. He was in the San Francisco area from 1869 to 1873. While in California he made many sketching expeditions into Yosemite. Munger then returned to NYC and in 1877 sailed for Europe. He lived in London until 1885 and then had a studio in Barbizon, France before returning to the U.S. in 1893. His style changed in France from earlier sweeping panoramas of the Hudson River School to subdued Barbizon landscapes. Munger died in Washington, DC on Jan. 27, 1903. He became internationally famous for his views of Niagara Falls, Venice, and France. Exh: NAD, 1866; Mercantile Library (SF), 1869, 1870; Snow & Roos Gallery (SF), 1870; Sacramento Art Union, 1870; San Francisco Art Association, 1871-74; Gump's (SF), 1873; Mechanics' Inst. (SF), 1875; Royal Academy (London), 1880; Painters & Sculptors of London, 1882. In: Utah Museum; Oakland Museum.
 

Source:

Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
New York Historical Society's Dictionary of Artists in America (Groce, George C. and David H. Wallace); Views of Yosemite; Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs (Bénézit, E); American Art Annual 1903 (obituary).