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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Black + White + Grey. The Lives + Works of Eric Gill + Robert Gibbings. Online exhibition
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
29 May 2015
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
In 1946, artist Robert Gibbings (1889-1958) visited his friend John Harris, who was then University Librarian at the University of Otago. Gibbings gave Harris five printed vellum sheets: three of Chaucer’s <em>The Canterbury Tales</em> (1929-31) and two of John Keats’s <em>Lamia</em> (1928). Both these titles were printed at The Golden Cockerel Press, which Gibbings owned from 1924 to 1933. One of the ‘Canterbury’ sheets contained an important addition: illustrations executed by Eric Gill (1882-1940), sculptor, stone cutter, engraver, and typographer. This vellum sheet is a small representative of the work that Gibbings and Gill did together, including the collaboration that resulted in <em>The Canterbury Tales</em>, and <em>The Four Gospels</em> (1931), which has been called ‘the typographical masterpiece of the 20th century’ (John Dreyfus). Both Gibbings and Gill were sons of clergymen; Gibbings visited New Zealand; Gill’s father was born in the South Seas in 1848; both wrote extensively on a wide range of topics; both were members of the Society of Wood Engravers (founded in 1920); both were talented artists; and both were prolific wood-engravers. And importantly for this exhibition, both made and designed books, although at first they were both typographically naïve. Their bookish collaboration lasted from 1925 to 1931. Both men have had a lasting influence in the artistic world. Gibbings created some outstanding limited edition books through his The Golden Cockerel Press. He also left some marvellously lyrical travelogues on places such as Tahiti and Ireland. Gill’s legacy is perhaps more evident. His sculptures are found in institutions throughout the world; his line illustrations are frequently reproduced; and importantly, there are his typefaces such as Perpetua and Gill Sans (the typeface used for this exhibition); the latter often used by modern-day book-makers and designers today. This exhibition is based on holdings within Special Collections. It is an overview, offering a glimpse into the lives and work of these two gifted artists.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Special Collections, University of Otago
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Kiwis in Captivity
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
F. D. Robson as told to Robert Gibbings
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1947
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Special Collections QL696 A63 R638 1947
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Pamphlets
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Napier: Hawkes Bay Art Gallery and Museum
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
The last six months of Gibbings’s Pacific trip were spent in Eastbourne in Wellington. Patience Empson, his wife’s sister, had joined him in Fiji in May 1946 to act as his companion and secretary. In Wellington they wrote up and fact-checked Gibbings’s South Pacific notes for his next book <em>Over the Reef</em>s (1948). Although only in New Zealand for six months Gibbings made a huge impact on the artistic and academic communities in the country. He gave a number of broadcasts and lectures – one at the University of Otago on conservation – and his exploits were frequently featured in local newspapers. He is even credited with increasing New Zealand’s ‘interest in Neo-Romantic print-making’ (Ross, 2006). This monograph was written after he visited F.D. Robson at the Napier Acclimatization Farm where they were breeding kiwi.
Engravings
Eric Gill
Kiwis
Robert Gibbings