A lecture exploring Gill's formative years, discovering how his ideas and varied talents were developed and influenced by others.
Eric Gill (1882-1940) has been called the greatest artist-craftsman of the twentieth century. He is also one of the most controversial. Despite this, one cannot ignore how his art touches our lives – from the font used for the Waitrose logo to the imposing sculpture of Ariel and Prospero on the front of Broadcasting House in London.
After abandoning a career in architecture, Gill forged a career in stone masonry and inscription cutting, later expanding into sculpture, wood engraving and typography. He was also a prolific polemicist who expounded his views in a stream of pamphlets and essays on topics ranging from sculpture to birth control. This lecture by Gill's great-niece explores the artist's formative years. Starting with his childhood in Brighton and Chichester, we follow the impressionable young Eric's progress in London and his subsequent 'escape' to Ditchling in Sussex where he co-founded a Catholic quasi-monastic craft community. In the talk you'll learn about the places and people who influenced, inspired and shaped Eric's beliefs and art as he followed a personal quest for beauty and truth in his life and his work.
THE ARTS SOCIETY ACCREDITED LECTURER
Mrs Caroline Walker
I've always been aware of my close family ties to the sculptor and typographer Eric Gill, a fascinating but controversial character. In 2006, however, a family history project drew me into an exploration of the life and work of his younger brother. MacDonald 'Max' Gill was an architect, mural painter and graphic artist, famed for his humorous pictorial map posters for London Underground and the alphabet he designed for the British military headstone.
Although my main profession has been English teaching, I now spend much of my time researching the Gill brothers and championing the work of the lesser known of the pair. I've co-curated numerous exhibitions including Out of the Shadows: MacDonald Gill at the University of Brighton and Max Gill: Wonderground Man at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. In 2016 I co-organised a series of events in the capital to celebrate the centenary of the author Eleanor Farjeon's delightful collection of verses entitled Nursery Rhymes of London Town and illustrated by Max Gill.
I've contributed articles to a range of publications such as Country Life, the TAS journal and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. I've given talks for organisations including the National Archives, the Art Workers' Guild, Christie's, Friends of Kettle's Yard and the National Trust and was thrilled in 2016 to become an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society. I run the MacDonald Gill website and am the author of MacDonald Gill: Charting a Life.
Download the MacDonald Gill pdf
OTHER EVENTS
Society
Mr Chris Aslan
13 Mar 2025 - 11:00
Online Event
Hear about the little-known nomadic textile cultures in regions of Central Asia
Society
Ms Shauna Isaac
10 Apr 2025 - 11:00
Online Event
Tracing the origins of why and how the Nazis looted European art and some stories of restitution