ERIC GILL

Eric Gill

Eric Gill, the son of a minister who belonged to a small Protestant sect in England, became a Roman Catholic.

Eric was inspired by the the sexually explicit Hindu temple carvings found in India.

(17 October 2009, The Guardian, Fiona MacCarthy on Eric Gill - 'Mad about sex')

Eric Gill became a sculptor.

Jesus by Eric Gill

Eric Gill's letters and diaries record many extramarital affairs and his incest with his sisters and with his two eldest daughters when they were in their teens.

The sisters "appear to have absorbed the experience, making apparently good and happy marriages, bringing up large families.

"Their history challenges received opinion on the inevitability of damage done by child abuse." ('Mad about sex')

Eric Gill

Eric Gill's adopted son, Gordian, may not have been so lucky.

Gordian was rumoured to be the result of sex between a Catholic priest and a nun.

Gill made sculptures of Gordian.

In one carving 'Foster Father', Gordion "is clasped to the father in an embrace that resembles the male-female conjunction..."

Gill's statue of Prospero and Ariel above the entrance to the BBC's Broadcasting House can be "interpreted as God and the Christ child, Gill and his own beloved son." ('Mad about sex')

Eric Gill - Prospero and Ariel at BBC Broadcasting House.

As an adult, Gordion "drifted from job to job.

"For a time he was a porter at Asprey's in Bond Street.

"He drank heavily and, according to members of the family, periodically stole Gill's work and sold it.

"He was said to have been 'in trouble with the police'.

"When Gill left him just £500 in his will, Gordian's bitterness increased." - ('Mad about sex')
Massacre of the Innocents by Eric Gill