"Eve" by Eric Gill

"Eve" by Eric Gill (1882-1940), wood engraving printed from the block in 1929 in an edition of 400.

Sculptor and engraver. Born in Brighton, Sussex the son of a Congregationalist minister, Gill became articled to W.H. Caroe, architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in London in 1900. He attended evening classes at Central School of Arts and Crafts and studied letter design under Edward Johnston, he also began to carve in stone. By 1904 he was making a living from letter engraving and within six years he was sculpturing figures. His first solo exhibition was held at at the Chenil Gallery, London, 1911. He set up an artistic community in Ditchling, Sussex and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1913. In 1924 moved to Wales and over the next four years produced much of his best engraved work, mainly for the Golden Cockerel Press. Though a controversial figure in that his sexual improprieties remained in conflict with his Catholic faith, Gill is nowadays regarded as one of the greatest craftsmen of this century, a typographer and letter cutter of consummate skill and a masterly wood engraver. "Eve" is regarded as his most important work. (source)