Gilbert Privat, born on May 27, 1892 in Toulouse, grew up in a family of artists, his father being a wood sculptor. He began his artistic training in his father's studio before attending the École des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse and then the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied under Jules Coutan.
Mobilized during the First World War, Privat was wounded four times and received the Military Medal. After the war, he settled in the 14th arrondissement of Paris and won the second Grand Prix de Rome in 1921, sharing this period with the winner Élie-Jean Vézien. He regularly participated in Parisian salons and the Paris International Exhibition in 1937.
In November 1937, he married Odette de Puiffe de Magondeaux in Périgueux. During the Occupation, the couple lived in the south of France before returning to Paris after the Liberation. Gilbert Privat was honored with several distinctions, including a gold medal from the Society of Arts and Letters.
He acquired a villa in Soulac-sur-Mer where he spent his last years and died on August 3, 1969. In 1997, his wife published a biography of her husband, thus preserving his artistic and personal legacy.
