Gil Sans Scandal

Gil Sans — you probably used or saw the font in the past.

Chances are you do not know about Eric Gill, the man behind it all,

Gill’s story in brief:
1882 — Eric Gill was born in Brighton, Sussex, England. Age 15, the Gill family moved to Chichester, Sussex. He was enrolled at the Technical and Art School.
Three years later he moved to London to obtain training as an architect.

In 1904, he married Ethel Moore; in 1907, he moved his family to a house named “Sopers” in the village of Ditchling. It later became the integral heart of Arts and Crafts movement. Gill established a series of craft communities, each with a chapel at its center and an emphasis on manual labour, as opposed to modern industrial production.

Gill rejected his family’s Nonconformist missionary faith in favour of a structured, service and hard work view of religion. This expanded when. on his 31st birthday in 1931, he was accepted into the Catholic Church.

Ethel had 3 daughters, eldest Petra, then Elizabeth and Joanna. Raised in isolation and home schooled, the girls had little contact with others while Gill proscribed servitude and his strong manual work ethic for the family.

But his austere and pilgrim-like exterior hid a dark story.

While Gill’s typography work was precise, clean and simple in style, his other work was sexual and highly erotic and physical.

He used only his family as live models and in these erotic and highly sexual scenes. In 1911, he carved his own version of copulating gods in his carving Ecstasy using his sister Gladys and her husband Ernest Laughton.

His long incestuous relationship with Gladys probably began at around this time.

His eldest daughter Petra was the subject of a series of wood engravings, Girl in Bath series.

Gill is also known for sex and experimental intimate activities with his two sisters, two daughters and of others, including the family dog.

Alive at the time of the book’s publication, Petra Tegetmeier, described her father as having “endless curiosity about sex” and “we just took it for granted.” In her 1999 obituary, she was noted to say she was never made to feel shameful. I choose NOT to unpack this.

When you look at his work, there is no choice but recognize the fact the artist was a sexual abuser of his sisters and children. Are you able separate the art from the actions of the artist? His work without doubt top quality, but often inspiration is suspect.

Look at more of his work to make up your mind.

Eric Gill died of lung complications 17 November 1940.

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