The Eric Gill Exhibition the Art Ofselection
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THE NEWSLETTER OF THE FRIENDS OF THE THOMAS FISHER RARE BOOK LIBRARY ISSUE No.8, Novembe r 1991 ISSN 0840-5565 on art, religion, and social issues, o ften Toronto in 1933, had throughout the 1930s po l emlcs against some pet hate and been an enthusiastic purchaser of Gill's sometimes w riuen in impenetrable prose, work borh directly from the art ist and from number more than flfty-Iour Items, w hile his gallery agents. ·111e present o wners The Eric Gill Exhibition an additional 200 or so contributions to allowed us to se lect what we wanted to hooks and articles are listed in the second d isplay from a huge col lection f prints. all and edition of the bibliography by Evan Gill, the major books, and many ephemeral The Art ofSelection revised by Steven Corey and Julia Macken items. '111is was followed by :1 suggestion zie (Winchester: t, Paul's Bibli ographies, from SUS3 n Bellingham, Special COllectio ns Eric GlII was an extrnord inarily prolifi c 199 1). Libra rian at the University of Walerloo, to artist, II has been estimated th:u he made As one wou ld expect, there are major sec the Gill collection there ( which had over 1,000 engravings; he created a collections o f GiII's work In England and been ~ rmed by earll r librarians who numbe r of Impo rtant type faces, including the United States, but it was an exciting were Gill enthusiasts). \VIc we re allowed (0 Joanna, Perpe tua and Gill Sans , which expe rience to discover the rich holdings bo rrow several unique items of o rig inal have rnairuained their popularity as good, which exist in and around Toronto. The art, books from Gill 's o wn library, and modern typefaces and are now even Fisher li brary has a number of the major other lterns, which would provide anot her available on computer disk; his in l1 uence books ill ustrated by ill , and a fall' dimension to the exhlbiti n. Other as a bo k designer was considerable selection o f works by his co ntemporaries. collectors, both tnstuuttonal and personal, We also the many consider Tbe rour Gospels 0 93'1) 10 were aware o f exhibitions in also kindly provided examples of Gill's be one f the most beautifu l book s 10 the 1930s ;tt H;I(( HOUSe , the Art Gallery o f work for the exhibition, come from an English privnt ~ press. He Ontario and in Winnipeg, o f Some seventy Such an abundance of course brings its did many sculptures, from his flrsr, small Gill engravi ngs from J. Kcmp W:lldie's ow n problems, After :1careful study of the piece. "Est ill Thalassa" ( 910), 10 his last collection. When we were invited to view r naterinl available, we chose m:IOY items to major public commission, "T he Creation of that collection I however, its size and display, selecting those which wou ld Man" for the teague of Nations building in content were a revetau n, Kemp Waldie, reveal Gill 's life and his progress as an Geneva (1937-8). I-Iis boo ks and articles founder of the Golden Dog Press In artist, and demonstrate his immense talents, Of course, we wanted to inclu de everything, but an exhibition, like a good book design, must allow for empty space. TI1C organizers each had their favourite T_H....,.J 'Jt, ~ "JJ ' items, those which were felt to be indis A ..""..l ' If .n......· .l1jw'.. pensable if a proper balance was 10 be "" ",..",.}!) /fI/II"" ,...,*",_", achieved , The space available seemed to • " " i"It,U, M. II·' I" i, dcllbcra t ~ .kill_Itilllllol'd <k shrink, ancl at the prom pt ing of our l,bcrald y, l.e., o(Ollt" own(,ee will, Fl>I" lh.1h ",1111m l llit-lf~Alll f'C h.villi('"' display exp ert, furt her heart-searching w ill. 1.~. , I'0w" of ddi bcn llon. nd pow~ r of decisions had to be taken after the Ictlllllth'R on, I\n l. d eh bc n l~ ,kill Ilw:d for the ilood or 100m.,. material was laid out in a preli minary way ,lIlllJ10 be Il\.Idc-nOl rorIhe aO<ld or lh, Il\.Ibr,lI01(er Iklood "f lheb..Iyer, hU I in Ihe cases. for Ille a-l f)( I ~ " A ~ ("tI[. An IO conR'Md willlftUkl..lhl..... The final result, warmly received by An i. olll'a1IlU,nlldwid!do<..t: dced.J ' 1110 Friends and colleagues, was reviewed in fu IOlh.,..I.o I~ 10Ihe IlIilli iObot IMlk. T he Ikcd IIIilu.lf IIO UropatU"". 111C Clo/x: ami M,'1l on 29 October by its Ewryth.... I• • h. ~It m 10 becomeIII atI , I I,td.. wiclt ka_c,t-bhclumilk'. alcela Visual Arts ririe, John Bentley Mays, who kallUncn er .......... 1ft' C>Odo-.ho II.. _ tloed..,.j Wlldled. IItKu.moCh or • wrote that "the exhibition deserves to be ....of ill.......,.' """ . ho IOn ldlonl:_ seen by anyone interested in the art of aidrn .kal .. bci". hie / Tk !I'IU.., ~ Me-... 1oIl_ lhi... ma4c. rku"'l ill modern primi ng, book design and print ,",-If,_It h&l'inc (ot ,'I __ -". Th. U1 '~ h ...... who nuku tM~uh making . .. hi. f"Of'" fu.,..... Art and Manufacture, 1929 (PrltJtllc collection) 2 ¥fYfO P RINT ED in the office of the Lanstcn Monotype I 0 ~ Corpora.tion Ltmhed, 43 Feue r Lane, London, E.C·4. :1(.. ~. FO R ER IC G ILL, Pigeus, North Dean , High • Wycombe, Buclts. December '2 0, 19'28 ART & LOVE ~'f(JthM M BY ERIC GILL HfIl.I< mol &I#("t " t - - ~ W :: E ~ ? . 0 t o~ DOUGI .AS CLEY! ROO N IlRISTOL ( 13UC~ ~ "TO IGHWTC OMBE I/. I M . 71Jl! '" le ~fJ(lge ofArt & Love, 192 7, sbowl llg the Ellgl'tlVed map oj Pigotts,Jrom The Furure of Sculpture, 1928. btl/Ids ofSt, Thomas, engraved by Gill, (Pnoate cottectton) (Priuate celtcctton) As has been explai ned, there were October 1924, and in the "Author's Note" . Pamphl ets". This essay W;IS originally many delightful hems whic h wo uld have Gill writes that "in thus repu blishin g on his delivered in November 1928 ,IS n lectur e been included were II not for restrictions own responsi bility, he has been able to entitled "Art in relation to life" to the of spa ce. Readers might be interested 10 include certain remarks which, thoug h Pangbourne Arts & Crafts societv. It was learn that these included a large architec approved by sound doctrine, were rew ritten for this pamphlet and then tural drawing by Gill which W:IS o fTe red fonnerly excluded in deference to puritan revised again and given as a lecture fo r disp lay, tOO late for inclusio n, from the prejudice by edi torial prudence.It Th e entitled "Art and industrial ism" to the . Prau Library of v lcrona College. Thi s book contains six full-page COpper Design and Industries Association in 1933. shows a propos ed renovation of the engravings. wh ich were printed separately; Gill rejected industrial methods of prod uc ground floo r of Asheham House ncar and six wood engraved in itial letters. tion and distribution as he also rejected Lewes, Sussex ( 910) , prob ably done ~ r The second Item is l1Je Future of modern worldly and irreli gious values. In Virginia and leonard Woolf. who lived Sculptu re. primed in December 1928 f r his "socialist years" he spent ;1 101 of tim e there from 1912 to 1919. One fascinating Gill in the Office o f the Lansron Monocype at meetin gs of societies, gtvtng many detail on the drawing arc the words Corporatio n in London . Thi s particular lectures even though he W'IS not ccrn fort "Opium den?" lnscribed in Gill's hand in copy, Inscribed on the front flyl eaf by Gill able as a publi speaker. He tended to one 5 01;111 room, to tanley Morison, includes the comment "po ntificate", and this pamph let contains Three omitted publications are illus in Gill's hand, thai of the forty or so copies some or his rather dogmatic views on art trated in this Issue of 111] Halcyo n, all primed. only ten had the map of Pigc tts - "Art is deliberate sk ill used for the good from the private collection in Toronto. The printed intaglio from a copper engraving. of something 10 be made - not for the first Is A ,1 and Love, printed by the Golden (his being one of them. Th is work was f irst good of the maker, nor for the good of the Cockerel Press in :1 limited edltlon of 260 give n 35 a lecture at the Victoria and buyer, but for the good of/IJeIblng Itself." copies and published by Douglas Albert Museum in London in December Th e exhibition, "Eric: Gill : His Life and Clevcrdon at Brtstol in 1927, when the 1927, and appeared in various other Art" will continue in the Fisher Library Gills were living at Capel-y-ffln in the published forms. It was included in an 1In1i1 30 january 1992, Black Mounta ins of South Wales. The exhibitio n of books lllustruting British and engraving on the une page of the hands o f foreign print ing, 1918-29, held :II the Alan l lornc St. Th mns became the auth or's device, to Briti sh Museum in April 1929. be used on many of his books.