"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)
