Madonna and Child. by Eric Gill, 1882-1940

Eric Gill, 1882-1940
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Madonna and Child.

Original wood - engraving, white line on black. 1925. Signed in pencil with monogram 'EG'. Inscribed in pencil as 65/c, also with Gill's reference number 66 upper right sheet corner. Derived from a drawing by Gill's daughter Petra, re-worked by Gill and printed by him as the design for his Christmas Card 1925. Signed edition 100 impressions.
Ref: Physick - Gill Engraved Works no 343.

Excellent impression. On light cream laid paper. Full small margins as printed. Sheet: 5 5/8 x 3ins. Block: 3 3/4 x 2 5/8ins (94x63mm).

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Eric Gill was without doubt one of the great masters of the medium of wood-engraving in the history of British prints. The sense of line and form which mark his sculptures, lettering designs and his figure drawings are also the central quality of his handling of his prints. The line has a superb quality of flow and perfection unmatched by any other British artist of the period.

Many of Gill?s wood-engravings are worked in the highly effective ?white line on black? technique, highlighting his beauty of line. The interplay of the black surface and delicate white line emphasises the balance, rhythm and serenity of the forms.

Gill was essentially a religious artist. Born an Anglican he converted to Catholicism. In about 1918 he founded a semi-religious association for artists and craftsmen at Ditchling in Sussex. It was intended as a society in which the artists could seek to combine their spirituality and their art. For Gill spiritual love and physical love were inextricably interwoven, and the beauty of many of his Madonna and Child images is the intensity of actual maternal love that they express.