Three works by the sculptor and artist Eric Gill, who sexually abused his daughters, have been withdrawn from a UK exhibition opening on 5 July.
Two of the works—a wooden engraving and a drawing—depict Gill’s daughter Petra, bare in a shower, whereas the opposite is a drawing of a nude Elizabeth. Every had been lined up for inclusion within the exhibition It Takes A Village on the Ditchling Museum of Artwork and Craft (till 1 February 2026), centered on artists who, like Gill, labored within the Sussex village within the early twentieth century. The choice to not present the works, that are a part of the museum’s assortment, got here after workers consulted a bunch of abuse survivors.
Gill’s artwork has been controversial since his abuse and incestuous relationship together with his sister, Gladys, got here to mild in a 1989 biography by Fiona MacCarthy. A sculpture on the entrance of BBC Broadcasting Home in London, depicting Prospero and Ariel, has been vandalised twice—in 2022 and 2023. It has since been restored and was reinstated in April.
The Ditchling museum made the choice to ask 4 ladies from the Methodist Survivors Advisory Group, who had themselves been abused after they had been youthful, to co-curate the part of the present devoted to Gill. The group had beforehand been concerned in discussions over whether or not the UK’s Methodist Trendy Artwork Assortment (MMAC) ought to nonetheless personal Gill’s watercolour, Annunciation (round 1912), which exhibits a dominant Angel Gabriel looming over the Virgin Mary.
The MMAC heard in regards to the Ditchling’s plan for a present involving Gill’s work and bought in contact with the museum, providing The Annunciation as a mortgage and suggesting a collaboration with the survivors group—which was agreed.
The survivors felt that the three Ditchling-owned works of Gill’s bare daughters—titled Woman in a Bathtub I, Woman in a Bathtub II and From Eliz and a part of the Ditchling‘s assortment—had been offensive and will upset guests to It Takes a Village. These objections had been taken on board by the museum’s director Stephanie Fuller.
“I wished to take the lead from the survivors group about what we may present,” Fuller says. “I had an extended listing of works, which was whittled down, and, after many discussions, they felt the three works had been unsuitable. So they won’t be within the exhibition.”
“We recognize Steph’s choice,” says Vivien Almond, a member of the survivors group. “They’re completely inappropriate. I’m additionally positive that Gill’s daughters by no means wished to be depicted that manner, nor did they provide permission.”
A few of the survivors group additionally had considerations about Annunciation because it exhibits a dominant Angel Gabriel looming over the Virgin Mary. Will probably be included within the Ditchling museum’s It Takes A Village exhibition, nevertheless in a separate room that includes a few of Gill’s extra controversial works.
Giving voice to Gill’s daughters
A key mission of the present is to rejoice the lives and achievements of Gill’s three daughters, “not as victims however as subsequently having fulfilled lives”, Fuller says. All three—the youngest being Joanna—married, had youngsters and labored within the inventive arts. “Their voices have been lacking,” says Fuller.
Among the many displays will probably be Petra’s handweaving and the marriage costume she made herself, plus drawings and booklets by all three daughters.
A shawl handwoven and dyed by Petra Tegetmeier (Eric Gill’s daughter) from round 1920
Courtesy of the Ditchling Museum of Artwork and Craft
The museum has additionally very just lately found artwork by Petra, Elizabeth and Joanna, which that they had despatched to the sculptor Joseph Cribb, Gill’s apprentice. The works, which had been a part of a set given to the museum by Cribb’s grandson, embody a drawing by Elizabeth of horses and canine, made for Cribb after he was invalided out of World Battle One; an etching by Petra of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, despatched to Cribb as a Christmas card; and Joanna’s Three Kings from the Orient.
“The three had been all very keen on Joseph,” says Fuller.
Fuller has talked to a few of Gill’s kinfolk in regards to the exhibition. One, Jenny Davies, who’s a great-granddaughter, is, in response to Fuller, “pleased with the method” the museum has taken.
