Eric Gill, (Arthur Eric Rowton Gill) Biography

British stone-carver, engraver, letter-cutter, and typographer, born in Brighton, educated at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London. His home in Ditchling became the centre of a group of artists which included David Jones. Having become a Roman Catholic in 1913, Gill carved the Stations of the Cross (1914–18) at Westminster Cathedral; this and Prospero and Ariel on Broadcasting House are among his most famous sculptures. Gill designed the printing types ‘Perpetua’ and ‘Gill Sans-Serif’ for the Monotype Corporation and typefaces for Robert Gibbings's Golden Cockerel Press, for which he also produced wood-carvings for many of its books including The Four Gospels (1941). In his books Gill frequently stressed the religious nature of artistic and physical beauty; they include Christianity and Art (1927), Art-Nonsense and Other Essays (1929), The Necessity of Belief (1936), and an Autobiography (1940). He also wrote a number of erotic works. A biography by Fiona MacCarthy of 1989 revealed some interesting and less pleasant aspects of his life including incestuous relationships with two sisters and two daughters.