A now controversial character, best known for the stone carving of Ariel Between Wisdom and Gaiety at Broadcasting House in London and North and South Wind on the Grade 1 listed 55 Broadway that overlooks St James Park.
He was born in West Sussex in the town of Steyning. He was born in 1882 and lived to be 58.
He was well known for: Calligraphy Sculpture Stone carving
Working from Ditchling in Sussex, where he lived with his wife, in 1910 Gill began direct carving of stone figures. These included Madonna and Child (1910), which English painter and art critic Roger Fry described in 1911 as a depiction of pathetic animalism, and Ecstasy(1911). Such semi-abstract sculptures showed Gills appreciation of medieval ecclesiastical statuary, Egyptian, Greek and Indian sculpture, as well as the Post-Impressionism of Cézanne, van Gogh and Gauguin.
His first public success was Mother and Child (1912). A self-described disciple of the Ceylonese philosopher and art historian Ananda Coomaraswamy, Gill was fascinated during this period by Indian temple sculpture. Along with his friend and collaborator Jacob Epstein, Gill planned the construction in the Sussex countryside of a colossal, hand-carved monument in imitation of the large-scale Jain structures at Gwalior Fort in Madhya Pradesh, to which he had been introduced by William Rothenstein.
In 1914 Gill produced sculptures for the stations of the cross in Westminster Cathedral. In the same year he met the typographer Stanley Morison. After the war, together with Hilary Pepler and Desmond Chute, Gill founded The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic at Ditchling. There his pupils included David Jones, who soon began a relationship with Gills daughter, Petra.
Gill designed several war memorials after the First World War, including the Grade II listed Trumpington War Memorial. Commissioned to produce a war memorial for the University of Leeds, Gill produced a frieze depicting Jesus driving the money-changers from the temple, showing contemporary Leeds merchants as the money-changers. Gill contended that the money men were a key cause of the war. This is at the Michael Sadler Building at the University.
In 1924, Gill moved to Capel-y-ffin in Powys, Wales, where he established a new workshop, to be followed by Jones and other disciples. In 1928, he set up a printing press and lettering workshop in Speen, Buckinghamshire. He took on a number of apprentices, including David Kindersley, who in turn became a successful sculptor and engraver, and his nephew, John Skelton, noted as an important letterer and sculptor. Other apprentices included Laurie Cribb, Donald Potter and Walter Ritchie. Others in the household included Gills two sons-in-law, Petras husband Denis Tegetmeier and Joannas husband Rene Hague.
In 1928–29, Gill carved three of eight relief sculptures on the theme of winds for Charles Holdens headquarters for the London Electric Railway (now Transport for London) at 55 Broadway, St Jamess. He carved a statue of the Virgin and Child for the west door of the chapel at Marlborough College.
In 1932, Gill produced a group of sculptures, Prospero and Ariel, and others for the BBCs Broadcasting House in London. In 1934, Gill visited Jerusalem where he worked at the Palestine Archaeological Museum (now the Rockefeller Museum).12 He carved a stone bas-relief of the meeting of Asia and Africa above the front entrance together with ten stone reliefs illustrating different cultures and a gargoylefountain in the inner courtyard. He also carved stone signage throughout the museum in English, Hebrew and Arabic.
Gill was commissioned to produce a sequence of seven bas-relief panels for the façade of The Peoples Palace, now the Great Hall of Queen Mary University of London, which opened in 1936. In 1937, he designed the background of the first George VI definitive stamp series for the post office. In 1938 Gill produced The Creation of Adam, three bas-reliefs in stone for the Palace of Nations, the League of Nations building in Geneva, Switzerland. During this period he was made a Royal Designer for Industry, the highest British award for designers, by the Royal Society of Arts and became a founder-member of the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry when it was established in 1938. In April 1937, Gill was elected an Associate member of the Royal Academy.
Gills only complete work of architecture was St Peter the Apostle Roman Catholic Church in Gorleston-on-Sea, built in 1938–39.