More on Perla Siedle Gibson who sang to the troops

My parents generation, in our family I mean, have now all died out, but as my Dad, Lionel and his brothers, my Mom, Joyce and many of her war friends went up by troop ship to North Africa to fight Nazi forces and their allies, they probably heard Perla Siedle Gibson singing them off.

Thanks to Gail Behrman and Giselle Wulfsohn for the following:

She was a 50 year old soprano who sang to the troops from the peir, there is a statue to her memory I think on the North Pier. It was unveiled in 1995 by Queen Liz 2. I hope the pics come out, for some reason I cannot get the link onto Microsoft Outlook, only Outlook Express which as you know is decidedly faulty. So why are you interested?

Perla Siedle Gibson was born in Durban, South Africa 1888 - 1971

Art Education
- 1907 Perla Gibson studied music and singing in Europe; also later in the United States of America.
- 1909 Perla Gibson studied portraiture under Prof Linde-Walther, Berlin; pottery and crafts under John Adams. Painting under Gwelo Goodman.

Short Artist Biography
- Daughter of Otto Siedle, first President of NSA, related through her mother to Thomas Bainers, who died in their family home. Began her career in Europe as a musician.
- 1917 Perla Gibson studied married Jack Gibson.
- 1923 Perla Gibson studied returned to South Africa and a full life divided between domestic activities, painting and singing. Member of South African Society of Artists and NSA, with whom she exhibited regularly; won the Gundelfinger Award of the NSA (for African subjects) in 1932.
- 1939 An accomplished musician and dramatic soprano of extensive experience, Perla Gibson gained an international reputation as “The Lady in White” during World War 2, when she became known to thousands of troops passing through Durban by serenading them from the quayside, clad always in white. In the course of this practice, which she continued after the war, she amassed a vast circle of friends throughout the world, with whom she corresponded regularly.
- 1968 Lost an eye in a household accident, but, with customary spirit, soon took up her active life.

Art Exhibitions
- 1936 Empire Art Exhibition, Johannesburg. Group shows in Durban; Paris Salon; Hibernian Academy; one-man art exhibition, London, opened by Roy Campbell; few one-man art exhibitions in South Africa.

Public Art collections
Durban Art Gallery