Gill, (Arthur) Eric (Rowton) (1882-1940)

English sculptor, graphic designer, engraver, and writer. He designed the typefaces Perpetua in 1925 and Gill Sans (without serifs) in 1927, and created monumental stone sculptures with clean, simplified outlines, such as Prospero and Ariel (1929-31) on Broadcasting House, London.

He studied lettering at the Central School of Art in London, and began his career carving inscriptions on tombstones. A keen advocate of craft skill in an age of mass production, Gill was a leader in the revival of interest in lettering and book design. He engraved for his own press, St Dominic, and for the Golden Cockerell Press. His views on art combined Catholicism, socialism, and the Arts and Crafts tradition. His books include An Essay on Typography (1931), Work and Leisure (1934), Art in a Changing Civilisation (1934), Necessity of Belief (1937), Sacred and Secular (1940), and Autobiography (1940).