Person    | Male  Born 22/2/1882  Died 17/11/1940

Eric Gill

Categories: Art, Craft / Design, Sculpture

Sculptor. Born Brighton. One of thirteen children of a clergyman, he remained religious all his life. Passionate believer in the "carving direct" method. His sculptures would sometimes depict controversial passions and his own transgressive sexual passions extended to a long incestuous relationship with his sister. Had strong views on what people should wear. Women, being inferior should cover up. Wrote a book on the effect of trousers on men's bits 'Trousers & The Most Precious Ornament'.

Studied under Johnston and assisted with the creation of the Johnston sans typeface. Then designed his own, the Gill Sans typeface. A 'compare and contrast' is fascinating. In 1914 was invited to design the Great Seal for George V. The design was accepted but never produced because WW1 intervened. More interestingly, at the time no one seems to have spotted that the king's mount was shown in the urination position. A mistake (or piss-take?) repeated by Hardiman in his statue of the mounted Earl Haig in 1937. Gill died Harefield Hospital, Uxbridge.

Other works in London include: relief sculptures on 55 Broadway (3 of the 8 Winds); Prospero and Ariel and others on Broadcasting House; Stations of the cross in Westminster Cathedral; Moorfields; and Doves Bindery and Press plaque (possibly).

2023: For a taste of the on-going controversy that surrounds Gill see the Daily Mail outrage regarding the BBC repairing the vandalised Prospero and Ariel.

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This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Eric Gill

Creations i

British Museum War Memorial

Designed and carved by Eric Gill.

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Edward VII Galleries, British Museum

So, all the sevens then. Eric Gill designed and carved this memorial.

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People's Palace

The plaque names only 6 relief panels but there are 7, music being represente...

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W. H. Hudson Memorial

The sculpture represents Rima, the nature-spirit heroine of Hudson's book "Gr...

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Other Subjects

Madge Gill

Madge Gill

Artist. Born in a flat at the site of the plaque as Maude Ethel Eades. Being illegitimate she was an embarrassment to her family, who sent her to a Dr Barnado's orphanage. She later went to Canada ...

Person, Art, Paranormal, Canada

2 memorials
Robert Seymour

Robert Seymour

Illustrator.  Born Somerset.  In November 1835 Seymour, a successful illustrator, aged 38, known for comic sporting prints suggested to the publishers Chapman and Hall a project, a series of illust...

Person, Art, Tragedy

1 memorial
George Cruikshank

George Cruikshank

Engraver, caricaturist and illustrator, best known for his political caricatures and for his illustrations for Charles Dickens novels. His father, Isaac, and brother, Robert, were also illustrators...

Person, Art

3 memorials
Edward McKnight Kauffer

Edward McKnight Kauffer

Artist and designer. Born in Great Falls, Cascade County, Montana, USA. As an art student, he was sponsored by Professor Joseph McKnight, from whom he adopted his middle name. He moved to Paris whe...

Person, Art, France, USA

1 memorial
James McNeill Whistler

James McNeill Whistler

Painter and printmaker, born in Worthen Street, Lowell, Massachussetts. His family moved to Russia in 1843 and he received his first formal art instruction at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, St ...

Person, Art, Seriously Famous, Russia, USA

3 memorials

Previously viewed

The Establishment Club

The Establishment Club

Peter Cook said this was modelled on "those wonderful Berlin cabarets which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the outbreak of the Second World War". Lenny Bruce, Barry Humphries, ...

Group, Commerce, Community / Clubs, Humour

1 memorial
F. Milton Harvey

F. Milton Harvey

Architect to the Tachbrook Estate, 1932 - 1954, he designed all of the blocks on the estate. He also designed the Maternity and Child Welfare Centre and City of Westminster Day Nursery on Bessborou...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
Dial Square

Dial Square

This arch overlooked Dial Square, named for the sundial in the centre. It is the site of the Royal Gun Factories where gun barrels were bored out. In 1886, the workers here formed a football club -...

Place, Engineering

1 memorial
Charles Shannon

Charles Shannon

Charles Haslewood Shannon. Lithographer and painter. Born Lincolnshire. Met his life partner, Charles Ricketts, in 1882. See there for more about their life and work together. 1929 Shannon suffere...

Person, Art

1 memorial