ERIC GILL - Monnow Valley Arts

ERIC GILL
(1882–1940)
The Sir Christopher Bland Collection
of sculpture, engravings and
illustrated books
MONNOW VALLEY ARTS CENTRE
8 × 5.4 cm
I L LU S T R AT I O N S
Front cover: Christ Crowned, 1931, cat. no. 47(a)
This page: above, The Soul and the Bridegroom, 1927, cat no. 39;
top right, Woman with Balloons, 1926, cat. no. 50
centre, The Chinese Maidservant, 1929, cat. no. 41
Opposite page: Self Portrait 1927, cat. no. 40
Inside back cover: left, Divine Lovers I, 1922, cat. no. 12(a);
right, Girl in the Bath I, 1922, cat. no. 13(a)
Back cover: Nativity and Adoration of the Magi, 1922, cat. no. 2
“In 1977 I became Chairman of a small
publicily-quoted printing group, Sir Joseph
Causton & Sons. Several of our companies
were still using hot metal and handtypesetting to print, amongst other things, the Stock Exchange Daily
Official List and legal books for Sweet and Maxwell. I became
interested in typography, and in Eric Gill as perhaps the greatest
20th-century designer of fine lettering, including Gill Sans and
Perpetua. I started collecting his wood engravings, his great books,
mostly those published by the Golden Cockerel Press and, when I
could afford them, his sculptures. When I became Chairman of the
BBC it was a particular pleasure to go every day to my office in
Broadcasting House, enter the door under Gill’s Prospero and Ariel,
see his Sower in the foyer and his reliefs above the side doors. While
I was there I was able to rescue and have restored two of his
maquettes, which had been banished to obscurity in White City. I
hope they haven’t been re-banished following the various regime
changes since my day.”
S I R C H R I S T O P H E R B L A N D, May 2009
ERIC GILL
(1882–1940)
The Sir Christopher Bland Collection
of sculpture, engravings and illustrated books
E X H I B I T I O N D AT E S
25 July – 20 September 2009
The exhibition is supported by
Patrons and Friends of Monnow Valley Arts.
Please enquire about membership of these groups
MONNOW VALLEY ARTS CENTRE
Middle Hunt House, Walterstone, near Abergavenny HR2 0DY
Tel: 01873 860529 Email: info@monnowvalleyarts.org
www.monnowvalleyarts.org
MMIX
A RT H U R E R I C R OW TO N G I L L
CHRONOLOGY
1882
1898
1899
1900
1902–4
1904
1905
1905–7
1906
1907
1910
1913
1914–18
1916
1917
1918
1920
1921
1924
2
Born Brighton, 22 February
Day pupil at Chichester Technical and Arts School
Learns decorative lettering
Joins Edward Johnston’s lettering classes at Central School of Art and
Design
Works in the offices of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners
Shares lodgings with Edward Johnston in Lincoln’s Inn
Marries Ethel (later Mary) Moore and lives in Battersea
Teaches lettering for stonemasons at LCC Paddington Institute
Birth of daughter Elizabeth
Lives in Hammersmith
Makes first wood engravings
Birth of daughter Petra
Moves to “Sopers”, Ditchling, Sussex
Carves first figure in stone
Birth of daughter Joanna
Received into the Catholic Church
Moves to “Hopkins Crank”, Ditchling Common
Works on Stations of the Cross for Westminster Cathedral
Hilary Pepler moves to Ditchling and sets up the St. Dominic’s Press
Gordian Gill adopted
Eric and Mary Gill, Hilary Pepler and Desmond Chute become novices
in the Third Order of St. Dominic
Founding member of the Society of Wood Engravers
Craft Guild of St. Joseph and St. Dominic formed in Ditchling
Moves to “The Monastery”, Capel-y-ffin. Joined by Donald Attwater,
Joseph Cribb, Philip Hagreen, David Jones and René Hague
Cat no. 23
1924
1925–7
1928
1929
1930
1933
1935
1937
1938
1940
1940
Starts work for the Golden Cockerel Press culminating in The Four
Gospels, Gill’s masterpiece, in 1931
Designs typefaces for the Monotype Corporation; Perpetua 1925 and
Gill Sans 1927
Moves to “Pigotts”, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
Commissioned to make sculptures for St James’s Park Underground
Station
Commissioned to make sculptures for the BBC, work undertaken
1931–34
Visits Palestine. Receives commission for carved panels for the
Palestine Archaeological Museum, Jerusalem
Awarded Honorary Associateship of R.I.B.A.
Awarded Honorary Accociateship of Royal College of British Sculptors
Elected A.R.A.
Honorary Doctorate from Edinburgh University
Writes autobiography between April and July
Dies 17 November aged 58
Cat. no. 4
Cat no. 16
Cat. no. 11
3
SCULPTURE
Eric Gill made his first carved letter inscriptions in 1901. Nearly 800 works are
ascribed to him and his workshop in David Peace’s book Eric Gill The
Inscriptions (The Herbert Press 1994). In addition to headstones and
inscriptions mainly for new buildings and commemorations, Gill designed and
made alphabets, heraldry, medals, seals, and postage stamps. Indeed any work
involving lettering or a combination of lettering and relief sculpture could be
undertaken.
Gill made his first figurative direct carved sculpture in about 1910. Early
work often incorporated inscriptions. Some were carved for his own pleasure
and destined for exhibitions. As Gill’s fame spread he received numerous
commissions. Judith Collins in Eric Gill The Sculpture records 300 works over a
30-year period from the personal and domestic to monumental works such as
Prosper and Ariel on Broadcasting House, Mankind (Tate) and the Creation
Relief for the League of Nations.
1. Madonna and Child I, 1912
Bronze, edition of 7
19 × 5.1 × 6.4 cm
Collins 32, p. 79, ill
2. Nativity and the Adoration
of the Magi, 1922
Portland stone relief with added
colour
20.3 × 45.7 × 10.2 cm
Collins 133, p. 133, ill
Illustrated on back cover
Photographs of nos. 1, 2 and 3 by
courtesy of the Ditchling Museum
Trust and Sara Morris
3. Second Model for Ariel
Piping to the Children, 1932
Bath stone relief with added
colour
30.5 × 55.9 × 8 cm
Collins 213, p. 177, ill
Illustrated on page 5
4. Crucifix – Regnavit A Ligno
Deus, 1937
Bath stone relief
30.5 × 23.2 cm
Collins 270, p. 208, ill
Illustrated on page 3
1
4
3
5
E N G R AV I N G S
Following Gill’s death his widow, Mary, gave a complete file copy of all Gill’s
engravings to the Victoria and Albert Museum. John Physick at the V&A
catalogued these engravings and published his survey in 1963. P numbers in this
section refer to this list.
In 1983 Christopher Skelton, Gill’s nephew, published The Engravings of Eric
Gill, a full pictorial record of all Gill’s engravings. This book uses Physick’s
numbering system and is the essential tool for anyone studying Gill’s work.
Douglas Cleverdon, who had published the first major anthology of Gill’s
engravings in 1929, contributed a personal memoir to the book and he wrote
“Eric Gill’s total achievement was remarkable not only for the excellence of
the works he created, but also for their sheer quantity. Apart from his writings –
well over 300 books, pamphlets and articles – he carved over 100 figures or reliefs
in stone.... He designed and either carved or supervised the carving of over 750
pieces of inscriptional lettering’... He designed half a dozen typefaces. He made
the thousand or so engravings which are the subject of this book; and as a human
being he lived a full life, in every sense.”
From 1908 to 1914 Gill produced only 30 engravings, mainly experimental or
for personal use. In 1915 he produced his first engravings for Hilary Pepler starting
with The Devils’s Devices and then for most of the books and pamphlets produced
by the St. Dominic’s Press until 1924, when he moved away from Ditchling.
Gill’s first collaboration with the Golden Cockerel Press (recently acquired by
Robert Gibbings) was to provide the illustrations to Sonnets and Verses by Enid
Clay, Eric Gill’s sister. A stream of ever more ambitious illustrations for GCP
books followed. Memorable are the illustrations for Procreant Hymn (1926),
Troilus and Creseyde (1927), The Canterbury Tales (1927–30) and The Four
Gospels (1930–1), for which Gill also designed the typeface.
Other notable achievements are the engravings for Count Kessler’s Canticum
Canticorum. In these Gill uses a new technique of lightening areas of black with
a fine stipple. Kessler wrote to Gill in 1931 “I think it is one of the most beautiful
series of illustrations produced in modern times.”
In 1930 Gill started his own publishing house with his son-in-law, René
Hague. Gill also designed a new typeface for Hague and Gill – Joanna.
Of the blocks, the blocks cut for the St. Dominic’s Press remained the
property of that press and those made for the Golden Cockerel Press were
bought back by Gill and mainly gessoed or made into sculptural objects.
However some of the blocks have found their way into private hands and this
exhibition includes some of them.
5. Madonna and Child, 1914
Woodcut, P27
26 × 15.3 cm
Not intended for printing, an
incised pear wood plaque
6. Crucifix, 1917
Wood engraving in red ink, final
state, P89, 13.5 × 8 cm
Cleverdon edition of 1929
After a crucifix in a window of York
Minster
7. Resurrection, 1917
Wood engraving, second state, P91,
13.8 × 8.8 cm
Cleverdon edition of 1929 on Japan
5
6
8. Crucifix, 1919
Wood engraving in red ink, P151,
13 × 10 cm
Cleverdon edition 1929
9. Lovers, 1920
Wood engraving, second state,
P166, 3 × 2 cm
Signed lower right EG, numbered
lower left 15/25
10
6
7
10. The Thorn in the Flesh, 1921
Proof wood engraving, P184,
12 × 10.2 cm
No published edition
11. On the Tiles, 1921
Proof wood engraving, P191,
8.2 × 7 cm
No published edition
Illustrated on page 3
8
9
7
12(a). Divine Lovers I, 1922
Woodblock, P193, 8.8 × 7.5 cm
Illustrated on inside back cover
12(b). Divine Lovers I, 1922
Wood engraving, 2nd state, P193,
8.8 × 7.5 cm
13(a). Girl in the bath I, 1922
Woodblock, P194, 12 × 12 cm
Portrait of Petra, the artist’s
daughter
Woodblock, P193, 8.8 × 7.5 cm
Illustrated on inside back cover
13(b). Girl in the Bath I, 1922
Proof wood engraving, P194
10.3 × 10.3 cm
14. The Plait, 1922
Wood engraving, P195,
16.8 × 9.8 cm
Portrait of Petra, the artist’s
daughter
12(b)
13(b)
16. Hair Combing, 1922
Wood engraving, P208,
10.1 × 6.4 cm
No published edition
Portrait of Petra, the artist’s
daughter
Illustrated on page 3
15. Crucifix with Crown of
Thorns, 1922
Wood engraving, printed from
three blocks, P197,
20.2 × 7.7 cm
No published edition
15
14
8
17. The Nuptials of God, 1922
19. Mother and Child, 1923
Wood engraving, P214,
17.5 × 11.5 cm
Illustration for Volume VI, no 34,
of The Game, St Dominic’s Press
1922
18. Girl in the Bath II, 1923
18
Wood engraving, P219,
14 × 8.3 cm
Inscribed lower left: Fr Agnes –
Xmas 1923
Signed lower right: Eric G
20. The Invisible Man, 1924
Wood engraving, P218,
10.8 × 10.8 cm
Signed Eric G lower right
Engraving on zinc, P273,
12.4 × 9.2 cm
Edition of 25
21. Elizabeth Gill, 1924
Engraving on zinc, P279,
17.8 × 12.3 cm
17
19
21
20
9
22. Naked Girl with Cloak, 1924
Wood engraving, P282,
9.7 × 5.2 cm
Signed Eric G lower right,
numbered 2/25 lower left
For Sonnets and Verses, Golden
Cockerel Press
27. Madonna and Child, 1925
Intaglio wood engraving, P343,
9.3 × 6.2 cm
Signed EG and numbered 7/15
28. Madonna and Child, 1925
Wood engraving, P343,
9.4 × 6.3 cm
Signed EG and numbered 41/c
After a design by Joanna Gill
23. Mother and Child, 1924
Wood engraving, P286,
8.3 × 8.5 cm
Signed Eric G lower right,
numbered 2/25 lower left
For Sonnets and Verses, Golden
Cockerel Press
Illustrated on page 2
24
24. Lovers, 1924
Intaglio wood engraving, first
state, P293, 7.7 × 3.3 cm
Signed E.G. lower right, edition of
16
25
25. The Sofa, 1925
Intaglio wood engraving, P306,
11 × 6.8 cm
Signed Eric G and numbered
18/50
26. The Convert, 1925
Wood engraving, P308,
9.4 × 6.3 cm
Signed Eric G lower right and
numbered 41/50 lower left
22
10
26
27
28
29. Earth Receiving, 1926
Proof copper engraving,
apart from the edition of
15, P363,
11.2 × 8.8 cm
An illustration for
Procreant Hymn
30. Earth Receiving, 1926
29
30
Copper engraving, P367,
12.5 × 8.8 cm
Signed lower right EG
and numbered 7/25
Alternative design to
P363, illustration for
Procreant Hymn, Golden
Cockerel Press
31. Crucifix, 1926
Copper engraving P376,
13.4 × 8.6 cm
Signed Eric G lower right,
numbered 6/10 lower left
32. Eve, 1926
Wood engraving, P380,
23.5 × 11.6 cm
Cleverdon edition of 1929
33. Woman Bending,
1926
Wood engraving, second
state, P388, 6.2 × 5 cm
Signed lower right Eric G,
numbered lower left
10/25
31
32
33
11
34. Divine Lovers, 1926
Intaglio wood engraving, P396,
10.2 × 7.5 cm
Signed lower right and numbered
25/25
Our Bed is all of Flowers,
1927
Wood engraving, P495,
9 × 11 cm
Three illustrations for The Song of
the Soul, Francis Walterson, 1927
35. Divine Lovers, 1926
Intaglio wood engraving printed
plano, P396, 10.5 × 7.9 cm
Signed Eric G lower right and
numbered lower left 8/12
36. Girl, and Man with Sword,
1926
Woodblock, P406, 13 × 4.3 cm
Border for Troilus and Criseyde,
top flower missing from block.
Illustrated on page 14
37. Bread of these Stones, 1927
Copper engraving, P485,
Signed EG lower right
Inscribed Bread of these stones
lower left
An illustration for Art & Love,
Douglas Cleverdon 1927
38. The Soul & The Bridegroom,
1927
Wood engraving, P496,
8 × 5 cm
The Flight, 1927
Wood engraving, P493,
9.7 × 9.3 cm
Illustrated
39. The Soul and the
Bridegroom, 1927
Hand coloured wood engraving
P496, 8 × 5.4 cm
Illustration for The Song of the
Soul
Illustrated on inside front cover
35
34
40. Self Portrait, 1927
Wood engraving final state, P497,
18 × 13 cm
Numbered 17/35 lower left and
numbered 173 Lower right
Posthumous edition
Illustrated on title page
41. The Chinese Maidservant,
1929
Hand coloured wood engraving
P577, 7 × 4 cm
Illustrated on inside front cover
38
42. Leda Waiting, 1929
Wood engraving P616, 5 × 6.3 cm
An illustration for Leda by Aldous
Huxley
37
12
42
43. Leda Loved, 1929
Wood engraving, P617, 13.4 × 8.3 cm
Second state, edition of 10
An illustration for Leda by Aldous
Huxley
44. Sculpture no. 2, 1930
Wood engraving, P629, 13 × 6.5 cm
Cleverdon edition 1929
45. Transiliens Colles, 1930
Wood engraving, P666, 14.5 × 6.8 cm
Hortus Conclusis, 1930
Wood engraving, P667, 14.5 × 6.8 cm
Dilecti Mei Pulsantis, 1930
43
Wood engraving, P668, 14.5 × 6.8 cm
Ibi Dabo Tibi, 1930
Wood engraving P669, 14.5 × 6.8 cm
In Domum Matris Meae, 1930
Wood engraving, P670, 14.5 × 6.8 cm
Qui Pascitur Inter Lilia, 1930
Wood engraving, P664, 8 × 6.7 cm
Inter Ubera Mea, 1930
Wood engraving, P662, 5.6 × 6.5 cm
Fuge, Dilecti Mi, 1930
Wood engraving P663, 5.6 × 6.5 cm
All proof wood engravings,
illustrations for Canticum
Canticorum, Cranach Press, 1931
44
45
13
46. Three Alphabets Sans-Serif,
1931
Wood engraving, P731,
8.2 × 7.6 cm
Hague & Gill edition of 1934
An illustration for Essay on
Typography by Eric Gill, 1931
47(a). Christ Crowned, 1931
Woodblock, P822, 21.8 × 20 cm
Illustration for The Four Gospels
Illustrated on front cover
50. A portfolio of 16 engravings
in slipcase
Woman with Balloons, 1926
Hand coloured wood engraving,
sheet 19 × 14 cm
Signed EricG lower right,
numbered lower left 9/25
Illustrated on inside front cover
And 15 others
A personal portfolio of engravings
put together by Eric Gill as a gift,
possibly to his wife Mary.
46
47(b). Christ Crowned, 1931
36
Wood engraving, P822,
18.7 × 16.8 cm
Signed Eric G and numbered
12/16 lower left
Illustration for The Four Gospels
48. Mother and Stars and Moon,
1936
Wood engraving, P916,
9.3 × 5.8 cm
Signed Eric G lower right,
inscribed no. 5 lower left
For: Quia Amore Langueo Faber &
Faber 1937
49. A Hart 1939
Wood engraving, P988,
11.8 × 6.1 cm
Signed Eric G and numbered
14/20
48
47(b)
14
49
I L L U S T R AT E D B O O K S
The Engravings by Eric Gill by Christopher Skelton, Skelton Press 1983, contains
a list of books containing illustrations by Gill, but the main source of
information on Gill as both a writer and illustrator is Eric Gill A Bibliography by
Evan Gill, originally published in 1953 by Cassel and Co and updated by D.
Stephen Corey and Julia MacKenzie in 1991 and published by St. Paul
Bibliographies.
Mention has been made of many of the great books illustrated by Gill for the
private press market. Following the depression of 1933, the market all but
collapsed and Gill’s work for publishers declined.
51. The Game, 1916–1923
Vols 1-6 complete
The Game was published by the St
Dominic’s Press and was the
polemic organ of the Catholic
Craft Guild founded in Ditchling
by Eric Gill and Hilary Pepler
with the financial support of
Desmond Chute. Edward
Johnston was a contributor to the
early editions which were
published sporadically until 1923.
Many of the editions contained
engravings by Eric Gill, others
contained engravings by
Desmond Chute and David Jones.
The last edition was volume 34,
January 1923 which contained
Gill’s engravings The Nuptials of
Christ. Complete sets are rare,
measurements vary but are
approximately 19 × 13 cm.
52
52. Lectiones ad Matutinum,
1925
Published by the St Dominic’s
Press with fifteen wood engraved
illustrations by Eric Gill. One of
200 copies with board covers,
although it is likely that only
approximately 20 copies were
issued. Size 31.4 × 25.2 cm
53. Passio Domini Nostri Jesu
Christi, 1926
Published by the Golden Cockerel
Press with five wood engraved
illustrations by Eric Gill. One of
250 copies, this one numbered 86,
bound in white buckram. Size
26.5 × 20 cm.
53
51
15
54. Canticum Canticorum, 1931
Published by the Cranach Press
with eleven wood engraved
illustrations and eighteen initial
letters by Eric Gill. One of 60
copies on imperial Japanese paper
bound in red morocco out of a
total edition of 268. This one
number 7. Size 25.9 × 13.3 cm
55. The Four Gospels, 1931
Published by the Golden Cockerel
Press with sixty-four wood
engravings by Eric Gill. Published
in an edition of 500, of which 12
were on vellum. This one
numbered 343/500 and half
bound in white pigskin and paper
boards by Sangorski and Sutcliffe.
Size 34 × 24 cm
54
55
16