GILL, ERIC ROWLAND (1882– ), English stone carver, wood engraver and draughtsman, was born on Feb. 22, 1882, at Brighton, where his father was curate of the church of "The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion." In 1897 the family moved to Chichester and the boy was sent to the art school in that city. His father decided to make him an architect, and in 1899 he apprenticed him to a London office. Gill did not, however, adopt this profession but took his career into his own hands. Becoming fascinated with the art of lettering, he began to carve letters and shields for tombstones, and for some years made a living by this work. In 1910 he produced his first sculpture, a Madonna and Child, which received much favourable criticism. Through the influence of Augustus John he was enabled to give an exhibition of his work at the Chenil gallery, London, in 1911. About this time he went through a phase of profound spiritual struggle. Religion and art were to him inseparable, and after vain attempts to find or create a religion consistent with his special creed of absolute values, he entered the Roman Catholic Church in 1913. In the same year he was commissioned to carve the Stations of the Cross in Westminster cathedral. These were carved in Hoptonwood stone and form flat, low reliefs on the brick pillars of the church. Much discussion was aroused by them at the time, objection being raised to their so-called archaism; in fact they have the beauty of sincerity and conviction, and, al though unequal, they contain examples of Gill's finest work. His principal sculptures before this date included the statue "Mother and Child" (1910) ; a Crucifix in Hoptonwood stone (1910), now in the Tate Gallery, London; his "Cupid" (Portland stone, 191o) ; the "Tumbler" ; the "Madonna and Child" (in Portland stone, coloured and gilt, ; "Torso" in Bath stone (Man chester art gallery, 1912) ; and in : "Dancer," "Mother and Child," "Boxers," and "Torso and Head." After the War he produced "St. Sebastian," "Torso," "Adam and Eve," 1920 (head less—an unusual concession to the modern tendency), "Ana diomene," "Splits" (two postures) and the black marble torso "Deposition" (1924). In 1922-23 he executed the relief of "Christ driving the moneylenders out of the Temple" as war memorial for Leeds university and in 1922 the Stations of the Cross for St. Cuthbert's, Bradford. He has also done a very large number of woodcuts. In 1933 he executed the sculptures on Broadcasting House, London.
In Gill's case it is impossible to separate the man and his work. Directness and sincerity are distinguishing marks of the one as of the other. His ideals are clearly set forth in his writings : Christianity and Art (1927) ; Sculpture, an Essay on Stone Cut ting—with a Preface about God (1917) ; and Id quod visum placet, A Practical Test of the Beautiful (1926). It is his creed that craftsman and designer should be, not two persons, but one, and he fiercely denounces the practice, mainly adopted by sculp tors, of modelling in clay and having the model translated into marble by other hands.
See Albert Rutherston, Eric Gill in Contemporary British Artists Series (London, 1927) ; Kineton Parkes, Sculpture of To-day (Uni versal Art Series, 1921) .