Eric Gill was an English sculptor, type designer and graphic artist. One of his twelve siblings, brother MacDonald Gill, also became famous as a graphic artist, architect and cartographer. The father was a pastor in a congregationalist church. Gill studied at a technical art school and then moved to London to practice with the well-known (church) architect William Douglas Caroe. Besides that he attended courses to learn the art of stonemasonry and calligraphy at a school where one of the fathers of modern calligraphy taught, Edward Johnston. Three years later, he decided to pursue the professions of calligrapher, stonemason, and type cutter.
Gill married and began making stone figures, such as "Madonna and Child" (1910) and "Ecstasy" (1911). Some of his figures are abstract, showing ecclesiastical and medieval influences, but at the same time they are reminiscent of the sculpture of the Romans, Greeks and Indians, as well as the Post-Impressionism of artists such as van Gogh, Cézanne and Gauguin. The Indian temples inspired him to "Mother and Child" (1912), his first public success. Gill was also co-founder of the Guild of St. Joseph and St. Dominic, where the painter and poet David Jones was one of his students. After the war, Gill made numerous war memorials, such as the Trumpington War Memorial in Cambridge. He also produced a series of sculptures for the BBC Broadcasting House and worked in Jerusalem on a bas-relief for the main entrance, sculptures and fountains for what is now the Rockefeller Museum. He also produced reliefs and sculptures for the Queen Mary University of London and the League of Nations building in Geneva, until he was finally awarded the title of Royal Designer for Industry. Gill's complete architectural works include only the Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter the Apostle. In terms of calligraphy, the creation of an alphabet for a sign painter was one of Gill's first works. In 1925 the font Perpetua was created, two years later the lettering for Gill Sans and shortly after that the font Joanna. These were followed by many more, as well as variations of the existing ones - the most famous is probably Gill Sans, which was also used by Penguin Books and British Railways.
In his art, but also in essays written by him, one often finds the combinations art, religion and eroticism. Despite his strict faith, Gill is said to have had extramarital relationships, and biographies also mention incest and zoophilia. He died of lung cancer in 1940 and his papers, manuscripts and book collection are now in the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library in California, many of his devotional objects and works of art are in the Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft in East Sussex.
Eric Gill was an English sculptor, type designer and graphic artist. One of his twelve siblings, brother MacDonald Gill, also became famous as a graphic artist, architect and cartographer. The father was a pastor in a congregationalist church. Gill studied at a technical art school and then moved to London to practice with the well-known (church) architect William Douglas Caroe. Besides that he attended courses to learn the art of stonemasonry and calligraphy at a school where one of the fathers of modern calligraphy taught, Edward Johnston. Three years later, he decided to pursue the professions of calligrapher, stonemason, and type cutter.
Gill married and began making stone figures, such as "Madonna and Child" (1910) and "Ecstasy" (1911). Some of his figures are abstract, showing ecclesiastical and medieval influences, but at the same time they are reminiscent of the sculpture of the Romans, Greeks and Indians, as well as the Post-Impressionism of artists such as van Gogh, Cézanne and Gauguin. The Indian temples inspired him to "Mother and Child" (1912), his first public success. Gill was also co-founder of the Guild of St. Joseph and St. Dominic, where the painter and poet David Jones was one of his students. After the war, Gill made numerous war memorials, such as the Trumpington War Memorial in Cambridge. He also produced a series of sculptures for the BBC Broadcasting House and worked in Jerusalem on a bas-relief for the main entrance, sculptures and fountains for what is now the Rockefeller Museum. He also produced reliefs and sculptures for the Queen Mary University of London and the League of Nations building in Geneva, until he was finally awarded the title of Royal Designer for Industry. Gill's complete architectural works include only the Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter the Apostle. In terms of calligraphy, the creation of an alphabet for a sign painter was one of Gill's first works. In 1925 the font Perpetua was created, two years later the lettering for Gill Sans and shortly after that the font Joanna. These were followed by many more, as well as variations of the existing ones - the most famous is probably Gill Sans, which was also used by Penguin Books and British Railways.
In his art, but also in essays written by him, one often finds the combinations art, religion and eroticism. Despite his strict faith, Gill is said to have had extramarital relationships, and biographies also mention incest and zoophilia. He died of lung cancer in 1940 and his papers, manuscripts and book collection are now in the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library in California, many of his devotional objects and works of art are in the Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft in East Sussex.
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