In Memory of
Elmo
Gideon
Artist, sculptor, veteran, inventor, and an elemental creative force. This memorial preserves a life measured not only in years, but in thousands of works and the lives they continue to touch.
Remembering Gideon ↓In his own words
“I believe that art is an inspiring language that can lift man’s soul to great heights. Art is a strange and universal bond that links the cultures and souls of man together.”— Gideon
In memoriam
Elmo Clifford Gideon, 86
Historic Miami artist and sculptor Gideon passed away on Tuesday, December 21, 2010, at his home and studios in Thomasville, Georgia, after a lengthy illness.
Described as an artist who bordered on being an elemental force, Gideon followed his own ambitions in developing revolutionary paints, sculpting compounds, techniques, forms, and applications. These innovations enabled him to create more than 20,000 original works during his life, including the deeply significant Gideon Holocaust Collection.
For decades he created hundreds of paintings and sculptures. Heavy, richly built paint became a signature of his work, often paired with sculpted frames made by the artist himself. His private archive grew to more than 5,000 original works—one of the most prolific bodies of work attributed to a single artist.
Gideon was survived by his wife Heather Gideon; his sister, Eloise Flood; his children Terry Markham and Richter Gideon; and a loving extended family of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This memorial is dedicated to his life, work, and enduring creative spirit.
Read the full biography →A quick introduction
Why Gideon matters
Gideon’s importance rests not on a single style or period, but on the extraordinary scale of his practice, his material independence, and his determination to turn lived history into enduring witness.
Prolific artist
Across painting and sculpture, Gideon created more than 20,000 original works; over 5,000 remained in his private archive.
Material innovator
He formulated his own paints and sculpting compounds, built frames, welded armatures, and developed methods suited to working at exceptional scale.
Historical witness
His Holocaust Collection grew from wartime sketches and memories, transforming personal testimony into paintings and sculptures of remembrance.
Six moments
A life in art
A concise path through the experiences that shaped Gideon—from an inventive Kansas childhood to civic recognition in Miami-Dade County.
Childhood & first works
Born in Overland Park, Kansas, Gideon improvised brushes and carving tools. At five, his prize-winning Jiggs figure earned the money for his first real paints.
Soldier and witness
He served as an Army Ranger with the 66th and 42nd Divisions, drawing through combat and the aftermath of the Holocaust.
A career takes shape
Settling in Miami, he built a family life and a prolific career spanning fine art, hotels, hospitality interiors, and large commercial commissions.
Material independence
Cost and limitation drove decades of experimentation with proprietary paint formulas, sculpting compounds, frames, and structural methods.
The Holocaust Collection
More than three dozen paintings and nearly a dozen sculptures formed an artistic journal of war, suffering, remembrance, and hope.
Gideon Day
Miami-Dade County issued a proclamation honoring Gideon and his contribution to the cultural life of the region.
A place to begin
Six essential works
These archival selections introduce recurring subjects, formative stories, and the range of Gideon’s practice. Dates marked “circa” are based on the surviving archive and legacy records.
Jiggs
Created at about age five, this contest-winning figure helped Gideon purchase his first real paints.
Read the early story →
The Holocaust
Photographed in progress, the work shows Gideon turning wartime memory into a physical act of witness.
Explore the collection →
Old Man
The old-man motif, developed from the 1950s onward, became one of Gideon’s enduring and most collected subjects.
View paintings →
Harbor Scene
A recurring subject in his mature work, the harbor offered structure, atmosphere, and a field for dense material expression.
View paintings →
Guitar
This rhythmic figure reflects Gideon’s command of expressive form and his refusal to be limited to a single medium.
View sculpture →
Sculpted Trees
Beginning with The Pub in Coral Gables, these immersive trees transformed interior spaces into theatrical environments.
Discover the public legacy →Fields of Heather
A shared life in art
Heather Gideon earned a bachelor’s degree in the arts—art, music, and drama—from Valdosta State University. She paints and sculpts, worked with Gideon’s guidance, and is a writer, poet, and lifelong singer.
Her collection of writing is known as In Fields of Heather. “Parting Psalm,” written for Gideon, brings her creative voice into this memorial and speaks to remembrance, hope, and an enduring bond.
Written for Gideon
Parting Psalm
“I leave now this place of my suffering, for God has made me a new home, glorious in His Kingdom.”
Read the complete Parting Psalm
I leave now this place of my suffering, For God
Has made me a new home, Glorious in His Kingdom.
My Spirit precedes me as I prepare
To step forth from this earthly body.
I Am enlightened as all cares shed gently away.
Heavenly Hosts stand singing and rejoicing.
The Spirit of the Lord has flooded my path with
The Light of Hope and Resurrection.
I am born anew in my Celestial Home.
My loved ones greet me with outstretched arms,
And wonderful faces full of longing and love.
The quiet rain of Life Eternal washes over my soul with
This Beautiful Grace; a Grace too wonderful,
Too encompassing, to behold in my former self.
To shed its loveliness upon your hearts
Will be my portion and my delight.
I leave you in this outward appearance, and put on this
Cloak of divine presence, In order to embrace you fully;
With the full assurance of our oneness.
Do not allow your sorrow to linger, for I meet you,
In a place where we will never be parted.
I send Angels, which surround me to touch
You with the Joy of my new Journey.
I glory in the continuance of my re-creation.
I desire that you give thanks in your being,
And partake of this treasure with me forevermore.
At the end of this journey I’ll find that once more,
I can be still and wait for that heavenly gate,
We know as “death’s door”
And through portals of music, the victory won,
I’ll rest in peace sweet… In a higher retreat,
And sing eternity’s song.
The work endures
Explore the collection
Move from the intimacy of painted surfaces and sculptural forms to Gideon’s works of witness and the public places where his art became part of a larger cultural story.
The Gideon family archive
Art is an ascending journey.
For questions about the collection, provenance, exhibitions, or permission to reproduce Gideon’s work, the family welcomes archival inquiries.
Contact the archive