Ditchling became the epicentre of the arts and crafts movement in the country, and Gill fortified this reputation by setting up the Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic, a Roman Catholic Community of artists and craftsmen which thrived for many years, eventually winding up its affairs in 1989. The community welcomed visitors of all sorts, including Virginia and Leonard Woolf (who Gill referred to as ‘The Wolves’) and the sculptor Jacob Epstein, a great friend. One of many projects Gill planned and never completed was a ‘Sussex Stonehenge’: a circle of 100-or-so giant naked stone figures which were to stand in perpetuity in the site which is now used as the Beddingham landfill.
Gill was an unmistakable figure, with his big ginger beard, and his omni-present workman’s smock. A man who loved to argue about theology and politics, and never wore underpants. He was almost Luddite in his disdain for machinery, but made an exception when it came to the printing machine on which he developed another branch of his artistic output, wood engravings. Later on in his career, after he moved from Sussex (he founded similar communities in Wales, and High Wycombe) he turned his hand to typography. But it was Ditchling where his extraordinary career flowered: this exhibition looks at his influence on the village, and the village’s influence on his artistic output. AL
This article is written in Gill's revolutionary and ever-popular Gill San Serif typeface; as no-nonsense a lettering as you can find.