Eric Gill

Specimens of typefaces by Eric Gill

Arthur Eric Rowton Gill (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was a British sculptor, typeface designer, stonecutter and printmaker, who was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. Today he is a controversial figure, with his well known religious views and subject matter being seen at odds with his paraphiliaic behaviour and erotic art.

Life

he is a twat

Typefaces

Gill Sans, Gill's most famous typeface

Eric Gill's types include:

• Gill Sans (his most famous face and lasting legacy to typography 1927–1930)
• Perpetua (1926)
• Golden Cockerel Press Type (for the Golden Cockerel Press; 1929)
• Solus (1929),
• Joanna (based on work by Granjon; 1930– 1931)
• Aries (1932)
• Floriated Capitals (1932)
• Bunyan (1934)
• Pilgrim (recut version of Bunyan; 1953)
• Jubilee (also known as Cunard; 1934)

In his 1947–1949 redesign for Penguin Books, a project that resulted in the establishment of Penguin Composition Rules, Jan Tschichold specified use of Gill Sans for book titles, and in branding their Pelican imprint. In the 1990s, the BBC adopted Gill Sans for its wordmark and many of its on-screen television graphics.

Controversies

Whilst Gill was a deeply religious man, largely following the Roman Catholic faith, his beliefs and practices were by no means orthodox. His personal diaries describe his sexual activity in great detail including the fact that Gill sexually abused his own children, had an incestuous relationship with his sister and performed sexual acts on his dog. This aspect of Gill's life was little known until publication of the 1989 biography by Fiona MacCarthy. Robert Speaight's earlier biography mentioned none of it.

As the revelations about Gill's private life resonated, there was a reassessment of his personal and artistic achievement. As his recent biographer sums up: "After the initial shock, […] as Gill's history of adulteries, incest, and experimental connection with his dog became public knowledge in the late 1980s, the consequent reassessment of his life and art left his artistic reputation strengthened. Gill emerged as one of the twentieth century's strangest and most original controversialists, a sometimes infuriating, always arresting spokesman for man's continuing need of God in an increasingly materialistic civilization, and for intellectual vigour in an age of encroaching triviality."

Selected writings

• A Holy Tradition of Working: An Anthology of Writings, Golgonooza Press, 1983, ISBN 0-903880-30-X
• Clothes: An Essay Upon the Nature and Significance of the Natural and Artificial Integuments Worn by Men and Women, 1931, Jonathan Cape
• An Essay on Typography, 1931, ISBN 0-87923-762-7, ISBN 0-87923-950-6 (reprints)
• Christianity and Art, 1927
• Art, 1934
• Work and Property, 1937
• Work and Culture, 1938
• Autobiography: Quod Ore Sumpsimus, Jonathan Cape, 1940 (published posthumously) ISBN 1-870495-13-6

References

• Attwater, Donald. A Cell of Good Living. London : G. Chapman, 1969. ISBN 0-225-48865-5
• Bringhurst, Robert. The Elements of Typographic Style. Hartley & Marks, 1992. ISBN 0-88179-033-8.
• Collins, Judith. Eric Gill: The Sculpture. Woodstock, NY : Overlook Press, 1998. ISBN 0-87951-830-8
• Corey, Steven and MacKenzie, Julia (eds). Eric Gill: A Bibliography. St Paul's Bibliographies, 1991. ISBN 0-906795-53-2
• Dodd, Robin. From Gutenberg to OpenType. Hartley & Marks, 2006. ISBN 0-88179-210-1
• Fiedl, Frederich, Nicholas Ott and Bernard Stein. Typography: An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Through History. Black Dog & Leventhal: 1998. ISBN 1-57912-023-7.
• Gill, Cecil, Beatrice Warde and David Kindersley. The Life and Works of Eric Gill. Papers read at a Clark Library symposium, 22 April 1967. Los Angeles : William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, 1968
• Gill, Evan and Peace, David (eds). Eric Gill: The Inscriptions. Herbert Press: 1994. ISBN 1-871569-66-4
• Harling, Robert. The letter forms and type designs of Eric Gill. Westerham : Eva Svensson, 1976. ISBN 0-903696-04-5
• Holliday, Peter. Eric Gill in Ditchling. Oak Knoll Press, 2002. ISBN 1-58456-075-4
• Kindersley, David. Mr. Eric Gill: Further Thoughts by an Apprentice. Cardozo Kindersley Editions: 1967. 1982. ISBN 0950194654
• MacCarthy, Fiona. Eric Gill. Faber & Faber: 1989. ISBN 0-571-14302-4
• Macmillan, Neil. An A–Z of Type Designers. Yale University Press: 2006. ISBN 0-300-11151-7.
• Miles, Jonathan. Eric Gill & David Jones at Capel-y-ffin. Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan : Seren Books, 1992. ISBN 1-85411-051-9
• Pincus, J.W., W. Turner Berry and A. F. Johnson. Encyclopædia of Type Faces. Cassell Paperback, London; 2001. ISBN 1-84188-139-2
• Skelton, Christopher, (ed.) Eric Gill – The Engravings. London : Herbert, 1990. ISBN 1-87156-915-X
• Speaight, Robert. Life of Eric Gill. London : Methuen, 1966
• Thorp, Joseph. Eric Gill. London : J. Cape, 1929
• Yorke, Malcolm. Eric Gill – Man of Flesh and Spirit. London : Constable, 1981. ISBN 0-09-463740-7

External links

• The Eric Gill Society
• Eric Gill (1882-1940) at Identifont
• "Written in stone", article on Gill's private life in relation to his work by Fiona MacCarthy
• "Baptism by fire", MacCarthy article on her discovery and publication of the details of Gill's sexual activity
• "Learning to Live With Eric Gill", article on the relationship of Gill's private life to his art, by Clifford Longley
• "Can the art of a paedophile be celebrated?". BBC News. 2007-09-05. Retrieved 2008-08-10., article on the relationship of Gill's sexual deviance to his art, By Finlo Rohrer, BBC News Magazine.
• "Looking for Mr Gill"BBC Storyville Documentary on Eric Gill; filmed and directed by Luke Holland
• Postage stamps designed by Eric Gill