Editing Eric Gill (section)

=== Capel-y-ffin 1924–1928 ===
In August 1924 the Gills left Ditchling and with two other families moved to a disused Anglican monastery, [[Llanthony Abbey]], at [[Capel-y-ffin]] in the Black Mountains of Wales.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|179}} The dilapidated building was high in an isolated valley about fourteen miles from [[Abergavenny]]. The monastery chapel was beyond repair, so a new one was quickly built and a [[Benedictine]] monk from [[Caldey Abbey]] was assigned to the group to hold a daily Mass.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|182}} [[Donald Attwater]] arrived at Capel-y-ffin shortly before the Gills, [[David Jones (artist-poet)|David Jones]] and René Hague, Joan Gill's future husband, all joined shortly after.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|182}} Joseph Cribb did not make the move to Wales but his younger brother, Lawrence Cribb (1898–1979), did and eventually became Gill's main assistant.<ref name="Ruth&JoeC"/>

Within a few weeks of arriving at Capel-y-ffin, Gill completed ''Deposition'', a black marble torso of Christ, and made ''The Sleeping Christ'', a stone head now in [[Manchester City Art Gallery]].<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|185}} In 1926 he completed a sculpture of ''Tobias and Sara'' for the library of [[St John's College, Oxford]].<ref name="Oxford">{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/9404460.eric-gill-oxford/|title=Eric Gill in Oxford|author=Martin Stott |date= 8 December 2011 |access-date=16 January 2022 | website=[[Oxford Mail]]}}</ref> A war memorial altarpiece in oak relief for [[Rossall School]] was completed in 1927.<ref name="ODNB" />

When approached, in 1924, by [[Robert Gibbings]] to produce designs for the [[Golden Cockerel Press]] which he and his wife, Moira, had recently acquired, Gill initially refused to work with the couple as they were not Catholics. Gill changed his mind when they sought to publish a volume of poems by his sister Enid. The relationship between Gill and the Gibbingses grew such that throughout the following ten years Gill became the chief engraver and illustrator for the Golden Cockerel Press. Several of the resulting books, including ''The Song of Songs'' (1925), ''Troilus and Criseyde'' (1927), ''The Canterbury Tales'' (1928), and ''The Four Gospels'' (1931) are considered classics of specialist book production.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|187}} Gill created striking designs that unified and integrated illustrations into the text and also created a new typeface for the Press.<ref name="Ruth&JoeC"/> The erotic nature of ''The Song of Songs'' and of the illustrations for [[Edward Powys Mathers]]'s ''Procreant Hymn'' caused considerable controversy in Catholic circles and led to protracted arguments between Gill and members of the clergy.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|211}}<ref name="PLord">{{cite book|author=[[Peter Lord (art historian)|Peter Lord]] |publisher=Parthian|year=2006|title=The Tradition A New History of Welsh Art 1400–1990 |isbn=978-1-910409-62-6}}</ref> The Golden Cockerel printed four of Gill's own books and he illustrated a further thirteen works for the press.<ref name="Ruth&JoeC"/> In addition, between 1924 and his death, Gill wrote 38 books and illustrated a further 28.<ref name="Ruth&JoeC"/> 

{{Gallery | width=275 | height= 275
| File:Gill Song of Songs 1925 Physick 318 His left hand under my head.jpg
  |His left hand under my head, from ''Song of Songs''
| File:V & A Gill 1963 Plate 105 Earth Waiting.jpg
  |Earth waiting, from ''The Procreant Hymn''
| File:Mankind 231096 (cropped).jpg
  | ''Mankind'', 1927
}}

The other key working relationship Gill established while at Capel-y-ffin was with [[Stanley Morison]], the Typographic Advisor to the [[Monotype Corporation]]. Morison persuaded Gill to apply the skills and knowledge he had gained in letter cutting to fonts suitable for mechanical reproduction.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|187}} It was at Capel that Gill designed the typefaces [[Perpetua (typeface)|Perpetua]] (1925) and [[Gill Sans]] (1927 onwards) and began work on [[Solus (typeface)|Solus]] (1929).<ref name="ODNB" /> Gill Sans is considered one of the most successful typefaces ever designed and remains in widespread use.<ref name="PLord"/>{{efn|The German diplomat [[Harry Graf Kessler]] visited Gill in Wales in January 1925.<ref name="Kessler">{{cite book|author=[[Harry Graf Kessler]] |editor=Charles Kessler | year = 2000 | title = The Diaries of a Cosmopolitan: 1918-1937 | location = London | publisher = Phoenix Press | isbn = 1-84212-061-1}}</ref>{{rp|245-246}} They had known each other before the [[First World War]] and Kessler wanted to persuade Gill to provide some calligraphy for a version of  [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Eclogues]]'', which was to be published by Kessler's Cranach Press. Kessler recorded his impressions of his friend in his diary: "He really is an extraordinary and noteworthy personality, with his great artistic talent,  utter repudiation of modern commercialism and eccentric piety translated into an all-embracing sensuousness".<ref>Kessler</ref>{{rp|257}}}}

While living at Capel-y-ffin, Gill spent many weekends at Robert and Moira Gibbings' home in [[Waltham St Lawrence]], enjoying the couple's unconventional and hedonistic lifestyle.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|191}} He was also spending sizable amounts of time in Bristol with a group of young intellectuals centred around [[Douglas Cleverdon]], a bookseller who published and distributed some of Gill's writings.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|192}} From 1925 onwards Gills' secretary, and mistress, was Elizabeth Bill. Bill owned a villa set in several acres in the French Pyrenees at [[Salies-de-Béarn]], which the Gills often visited.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|205}} The Gill family spent the winter of 1926–27 there and Gill did many of the engravings for ''Troilus and Criseyde''.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|215}} For the last months of 1927 he worked in a studio in London at Glebe Place in Chelsea creating the sculpture originally known as ''Humanity'' and now called ''Mankind''. The work, a giant torso, was modelled by Angela Gill and shown at the [[Goupil Gallery]] in London to considerable acclaim before being purchased by the artist [[Eric Kennington]].<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|220}}<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gill-mankind-n05388#tabs0__section-catalogue-entry |title=Catalogue entry: ''Mankind'' 1927-8 |year=2004 |website=Tate |access-date=8 March 2022}}</ref> Some years later Kennington offered the work to [[Whipsnade Zoo]]. The zoo refused the offer and the work is now in the [[Tate]] collection but displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|220}}<ref name="RCribb"/>

It had been too impractical to transport the stone for ''Mankind'' to Capel-y-ffin and it was clear that the site had become too remote and isolated for Gill's increasing commercial workload, and by May 1928 he was seeking a new home for his family and workshops.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|221}}<ref name="PLord"/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:GillSansEG.svg|Gill Sans
File:Joanna Nova sample image.png|Joanna Nova
File:Perpetua_font_sample.png|Perpetua
File:GoldenCockerel-1.jpg|Golden Cockerel type
File:GillFaces.png|Three typefaces by Gill
</gallery>