Arthur Eric Rowton Gill (February 22, 1882–November 17, 1940) was a British sculptor, typographer and engraver. February 22 is the 53rd day of every year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1882 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... November 17 is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece. ... 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Ancient Greeks depiction of ideal form of the body is expressed through sculptures such as this one. ... Typographic work Typography (from the Greek words typos = form and grapho = write) is the art and technique of selecting and arranging type styles, point sizes, line lengths, line leading, character spacing, and word spacing for typeset applications. ... Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. ...

Biography

Gill was born in Brighton, Sussex (now East Sussex). In 1902 he attended classes, studying lettering under the calligrapher Edward Johnston at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. Brighton on the southern Sussex coast is one of the largest and most famous seaside resorts in England. ... East Sussex is a county in South East England. ... 1902 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Calligraphy in a Latin Bible of AD 1407 on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. ... Categories: People stubs | Calligraphers | Graphic designers | 1872 births | 1944 deaths ... The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ...

In 1906 he married, and the following year he moved with his family to Hopkin's Crank [or Sopers?], a house in an artists' community at Ditchling in Sussex, where he started producing sculpture. His first public success was Mother and Child (1912). In 1914 he produced sculptures for the stations of the cross in Westminster Cathedral. In the same year he met the typographer Stanley Morison. After the war, Gill's pupils included the young David Jones, who soon began a relationship with Gill's daughter, Petra. 1906 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Ditchling is a village in East Sussex, England. ... 1912 is a leap year starting on Monday. ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... The Stations of the Cross (or Way of the Cross; in Latin, Via Crucis or Via Dolorosa) refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the Catholic and Anglican devotion commemorating the Passion. ... Westminster Cathedral from Victoria Street Westminster Cathedral is the motherchurch of the Roman Catholic faithful of Great Britain located in the City of Westminster in London. ... Stanley Morison (May 6, 1889—October 11, 1967) was an English typographer and literary editor. ... David Jones (1895-1974) was both an artist and one of the most important first generation British modernist poets. ...

Gill's devout Roman Catholicism did not prevent him from living a bohemian lifestyle and taking lovers. According to the 1989 biography by Fiona MacCarthy, Gill's relationships included two of his sisters and two of his daughters. Robert Speaight's earlier biography mentioned none of this. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Robert Speaight (1904 – 1976) was a British actor and writer. ...

In 1924 he moved to Capel-y-ffin in Wales, where he set up a new workshop, to be followed by Jones and other disciples. In 1925 he produced the Perpetua font, based on Classical Roman lettering, for Morison, who was working for the Monotype Corporation. This was followed by the Gill Sans typeface, based on the sans-serif lettering originally designed by Johnston for London Underground. 1924 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... National motto: Cymru am byth (Welsh: Wales for ever) Waless location within the UK Official languages English, Welsh Capital Cardiff Largest city Cardiff First Minister Rhodri Morgan Area  - Total Ranked 3rd UK 20,779 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 3rd UK 2,903,085 140/km² Ethnicity: 97. ... 1925 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Currently Monotype Imaging, Inc, a typesetting and typeface design company responsible for many developments in printing technology — in particular the Monotype machine which was the first fully mechanical typesetter — and the design and production of typefaces in the 19th and 20th centuries. ... Gill Sans is a sans-serif typeface created by Eric Gill and published by the Monotype Corporation between 1928 and 1930. ... Slight modifications to the famous London Underground roundel indicate the name of each station on platform and some outdoor signs. ...

Gill soon tired of Capel-y-ffin, coming to feel that it had the wrong atmosphere. In 1928 he moved to Pigotts near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, where he set up a printing press. He took on an apprentice named David Kindersley, who became a successful sculptor and engraver. In 1932 he produced a group of sculptures, Prospero and Ariel, for the BBC's Broadcasting House in London. In 1937 Gill designed a postage stamp for the Post Office, and in 1938 he produced The Creation of Adam, three bas-reliefs in stone for the League of Nations building in Geneva. During this period he was made a "Royal Designer for Industry" by the Royal Society of Arts and became a founder-member of the newly established Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry. The award of RDI is the highest British award for designers. 1928 was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... See High Wycombe, Western Australia for the suburb of Perth. ... Buckinghamshire (abbreviated Bucks) is a county in South East England. ... 1932 is a leap year starting on a Friday. ... Corporate logo of the British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the national broadcaster of the United Kingdom. ... Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC in London, England. ... The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. ...

Apart from Gill Sans, which is his most famous creation and lasting legacy to typography, Gill also designed the typefaces Perpetua (1926), Golden Cockerel Roman (1929), Solus (1929), Joanna (based on work by Granjon; 1930–31), Aries (1932), Floriated Capitals (1932), Bunyan (1934), Pilgrim (recut version of Bunyan; 1953) and Jubilee (1934). Gill Sans is a sans-serif typeface created by Eric Gill and published by the Monotype Corporation between 1928 and 1930. ... In typography, a typeface consists of a co-ordinated set of character designs. ... 1926 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... A major English private press operating between 1920 and 1961. ... 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1930 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1934 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

A deeply religious man, Eric Gill published numerous essays on the relationship between art and religion. He also produced a number of erotic engravings.

Gill died in Uxbridge, Middlesex in 1940. His headstone identifies him simply as a 'stone carver'. [1] Uxbridge is a place in the London Borough of Hillingdon in west London. ... Middlesex as a traditional county before 1888. ...

Quotations

Art is skill, that is the first meaning of the word.

"That state is a state of Slavery in which a man does what he likes to do in his spare time and in his working time that which is required of him. This state can only exist when what a man likes to do is to please himself.

"That state is a state of Freedom in which a man does what he likes to do in his working time and in his spare time that which is required of him. That state can only exist when what a man likes to do is to please God."

—from Art Nonsense and Other Essays. (1929)

See also

• William Bloye, his pupil.

William Bloye was a sculptor, active in Birmingham either side of the second world war, and head of sculpture at Birmingham School of Art, where one of his pupils was Raymond Mason. ...

References

• Attwater, Donal: A Cell of Good Living, 1969
• Collins, Judith: Eric Gill — The Sculpture 1998
• Gill, Cecil, Warde & Kindersley; The Life and Works of Eric Gill, 1968
• Gill, Eric: A Holy Tradition of Working: An Anthology of Writings, Golgonooza Press, 1983, ISBN 090388030X
• Gill, Eric: An Essay on Typography, 1931, ISBN 0-87923-762-7, ISBN 0-87923-950-6 (reprints)
• Gill, Eric: Christianity and Art, 1927
• Gill, Eric: Art, 1934
• Gill, Eric: Work and Property, 1937
• Gill, Eric: Work and Culture, 1938
• Gill, Eric: Autobiography: Quod Ore Sumpsimus, Jonathan Cape, 1940 (published posthumously) ISBN 1-870495-13-6
• Holliday, Peter: Eric Gill in Ditchling, Oak Knoll Press, ISBN 1584560754
• MacCarthy, Fiona: Eric Gill, Faber & Faber, 1989
• Peace, David: Eric Gill — The Inscriptions, 1994
• Skelton, Christopher, Editor: Eric Gill — The Engravings, 1983
• Speaight, Robert: Life of Eric Gill, 1966
• Thorpe, Joseph: Eric Gill, 1929
• Yorke, Malcolm: Eric Gill — Man of Flesh and Spirit, 1981

Related articles

• Typography
• Wood engraving

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