MADGE GILL RETROSPECTIVE
2012-06-25Gill’s work has never been shown before in this way. She is presented not only as a defining member of the “Outsider art” movement (which denoted Gill’s status as a non-professional) but also as an important 20th Century artist whose work holds a modern audience captivated and intrigued.This exhibition uncovers many patterns in her work which indicate her fragile mental state following a traumatic childhood (growing up an orphan, being sent to Canada as a child worker before returning to East London and marrying her cousin). Gill started to produce drawings and embroidery on paper and calico, but her adulthood was beset by the grief which it is believed inspired her work. After the death of her son from a bout Spanish ‘flu which lost her the sight in one eye, a stillborn daughter and finally the death of her husband, Gill was prolific in her production of sketches and drawings right up until the late 1950s. She died in East Ham in 1961.
Exhibition runs through to August 23rd, 2012
Bow Arts Trust
183 Bow Road
London
E3 2SJ.
