Eric Gill (1882-1940):
Naked Woman Holding Spray, 1930, from The Canterbury Tales, Physick 631
Unframed (ref: 10451)
Original woodblock carving with gesso
Incised with Gill's initials and numbered
Block blind stamped, "T. Lawrence"
6.3 x 1.2 in. (16 x 3 cm)See all works by Eric Gill woodblock allegory design flowers Garden leisure religion trees women Garden Museum
Provenance: Barrie Marks Ltd, until 1999; Peter Cornish untill 2019
Eric Gill paid Gibbings £200 for the blocks that the Golden Cockerel Press had commissioned up to 1933. As with others he cut many of these to sculptured shapes, filled the engraving with a gesso-like substance, and sold them or gave them away as ornaments; thus ensuring that no further prints could be taken', Christopher Skelton, (introduction to Eric Gill, The Engravings, p 13).
Exhibited: Sanctuary, Artist-Gardeners, 1919-39, Garden Museum, London, 25th February – 5 April, 2020
Literature: Christopher Woodward, Sanctuary: Artist-Gardeners, 1919–1939, published by Liss Llewellyn, 2020