“The artist is not a different kind of person, but every person is a different kind of artist” Arthur Eric Gill FATMA AL HASHEMI

Who is Eric Gill?  Eric gill was one of the well-known typographers of all time, does Gill sans ring a bell? :D  Gill was born in Brighton, Sussex in He studied in Chichester technical and art school until he moved into London and was trained as an architect, but that didn’t last, he got frustrated with his training and decided to join evening classes in stone masonry at Westminster technical institute and a Calligraphy class at the Central school of arts and crafts. Edward Johnston, the creator of the underground typeface of London and also his professor at the central school of arts and crafts, influenced gill and was his reason to pursue his passion and be a calligrapher. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Illustration By Eric Gill

 1903 : Gill decided to quit architecture as his passion drifted to calligraphy, he decided to be a letter-cutter and it served him well as a job and monumental mason.  1904 : Gill married Ethel Hester Moore, he moved to Ditchling Sussex with his family. Gill had three daughters, Betty, Petra and Joan.

 1905 – 09 : Gilll starts by creating initials and book covers, he started with Insel publisher and Ashedene press. But when he moved to Ditchling, Sussex with his family in 1907, he started sculpturing; he started with the BCC building in London, and then created sculptures for the Stations of the Cross in Westminster Cathedral in London, which was the reason that made Eric Gill known as the great artists in history. Eric Gill completed this amazing collection of fourteen Westminster Cathedral Stations between the years 1913 and 1918.

Eric Gill completed this amazing collection of fourteen Westminster Cathedral Stations between the years 1913 and 1918.

Type-Faces *:D)  1925 He Designed Perpetua for Stanley Morison.  1927 He designed Gill sans, his most famous font, which was influenced by the underground typeface made by Edward Johnston. This font has become the letter of the railways in London, where it appears on signs, car plate numbers and timetables.  He designed Joanna, the typeface that he used for his book, An Essay on Typography. *If you’re wondering why each point has a different look, its because I used the font I’m mentioning for its description :D*

All the fonts created by Eric Gill  Fonts designed by Eric Gill:  Aries Gill Facia Gill Facia Display Gill Floriated Capitals Gill Sans Gill Sans Bold Gill Sans Bold Condensed Gill Sans Condensed Gill Sans Display Bold Gill Sans Extra Condensed Bold Gill Sans Infant Gill Sans Infant Bold Gill Sans Light Shadowed Gill Sans Light Shadowed MT Gill Sans Shadowed Gill Sans Ultra Bold Gill Sans Ultra Bold Condensed Humanist 521 Joanna Joanna Extra Bold Joanna Solotype Jubilee Lapidary 333 Perpetua

Printing Press  Gill started to feel wrong being in such an atmosphere since all his costumers were in London and he was far from it. In 1928 he moved to Pigott in Buckinghamshire, where he started his printing press and lettering workshop.  He gathered great apprentices, like David Kindersley who became a successful sculptor and engraver, John Skelton, his nephew and one of history’s great important letterer and sculptor. Eric Gill Stated that the reason for creating a printer press was to speed up the printing process instead of having a hand written book.

 In 1932, Eric gill produced a lot of sculptures, Prospero and Ariel. BCC’s broadcasting Langham Place, London.

 1937, he designed a stamp for the post office. King George VI and National Emblems Typography by Eric Gill Portrait by Edmund Dulac

 1938, produced the creation of Adam, for the league of nations building in Geneva “ three bas-reliefs in stone”  During this period of time, Eric gill was known as a royal designer for industry by the social society of arts, which is the highest British award for designers; he also became the found-member of the newly established faculty of royal designer industry.

 Eric Gill’s work is still shown until now, in the Museum you can find his letter cutting, sculpture, wood engraving and writings. His lettering can be seen on several monuments in St Margaret’s churchyard on graves.  in 1940, Gill died of lung cancer in Harefield Hospital, Hillingdon. He was buried in Speen churchyard in the Chilterns, near Princes Risborough, the village where his last artistic community had practised.

Usage of Gill Sans

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