Eric Gill 1882-1940
Joanna
pencil and crayon on paper
10¼ x 13¾ ins




Born in Brighton, the son of a clergyman, Gill attended Chichester Art School, followed by the Central School of Arts and Crafts, where he studied both stone carving and typography. Like his friend and fellow sculptor Epstein, he was an early advocate of direct carving.

Gill had his first solo show in 1911; the appreciative Wyndham Lewis subsequently summarised his works as 'small, excellent, and ribald'. This nude of his daughter Joanna captures Gill’s economical graphic approach and his frank enjoyment of the female body.