Eric Gill in Ditchling: Four Essays

Citation

Holliday, P. (2004), "Eric Gill in Ditchling: Four Essays", Library Review, Vol. 53 No. 3, pp. 187-188. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530410526600

At present, perhaps, the sculptor and social philosopher, Eric Gill, may well languish in some neglect, in view of the advent of massive technology, almost overwhelming the craftsmanship of the past. Nevertheless, there must remain an urgent need to recollect, even to treasure, the rudiments of his mixture of Christian socialism, creative art, and individuality, in these present times of mass movements, even of social conformity. He was, at any rate, chiefly in the 1930s, a learned and influential advocate of both pacifism and the cult of artistic individuality, the latter effectively transcending the barriers between art and literature.

We should welcome, therefore, this small but well‐researched volume, relating essentially to the aspects of Eric Gill's work – in photography, sculptures and inscriptions associated with the village of Ditchling in Sussex, where he lived and had his famous workshops between 1907 and 1924. It was, perhaps, a lingering influence of the “arts and crafts” movement of the late Victorian period, initiated by William Morris. It gave a fresh impetus to creative craftsmanship, adding a spiritual dimension and a reaction in favour of individuality, as against the tendency towards massive social conformity, perhaps implicit in the advancing collectivism of the 20th century Welfare State.

Eric Gill, certainly, was an “eccentric”, in the best possible meaning of the word. He fostered individual talent and effort, especially in the arts. A Roman Catholic, he collected around him an assortment of fellow believers and non‐believers, united in the common pursuit of both literary and visual art. These altogether had a nationwide influence, far beyond their actual numbers. Gill himself was interested in the beauty of printed books, as well as in sculpture and photography. His religious art became famous and widely accepted. He gave new and embracing dimensions to art, literature, and religion.

In his younger years, however, he did the Continental “Grand Tour”, taking some significant photographs of Rome in the year 1906, amply discussed in this little volume. Born in Brighton in 1882 and dying in 1940, Gill's lifelong achievements were large and varied: book‐illustrator, artist, craftsman and social philosopher, at times perhaps when genuine thought was far better appreciated and operative than it is at present. He set‐up a craft bindery in 1893, in the wake of the celebrated “Kelmscott Press” of William Morris; and as early as the year 1901 he was extolling the “beauty of the book”, defiant of the idea of mere utility. This movement was elaborated in the first decades of the 20th century, into the publication of lavishly illustrated editions of both Milton and Browning.

The cult of beauty, therefore, dominated all aspects of the work of Eric Gill: not effeminate, but extraordinarily vigorous and robust, forming a coherent and infectious social philosophy. It involved Quakers as well as Roman Catholics: an extraordinary religious alliance. Much of it was symbolic, of course. Nevertheless, Eric Gill was meticulous in his close attentions to stylistic and typographical details: his approach was intellectual, before it was visual. After 1907, he was focussed upon his refuge in Ditchling, which accordingly provides in this excellent volume the hub of each of the four essays, dealing with specific aspects of his career. One is left with a very agreeable impression of his utmost versatility, as well as a warm feeling for his capacity to excite and to sustain friendships, even among very different people.

Nor, of course, was Eric Gill “elitist”, to use an overworked contemporary term. On the contrary, his greatness must still depend upon his extraordinary ability to make common things look significant, and the ordinary become extraordinary. So, he touched the lives of working folk, enriching and inspiring them. He was as alive to the past as he was to the present: the two intermingled and depended upon each other, in his view.

Lavishly illustrated and supplied with good bibliographies, this enduring little volume must be received with acclamation and praise: the more so, perhaps, because of its urgent relevance, to counteract the technological invasion of our own electronic times.