First Nudes

1954

Special Collections NC228 G53 A4 1954

London: Neville Spearman

Gill was an artist and he was pre-occupied with the human figure. Nevertheless, as an engraver and sculptor he only began drawing from life when aged 44, believing earnestly that ‘if you are going to draw from the naked model at all the best time to do it is rather later in life, when the experience of living has filled the mind and given a deeper, a more sensual as well as a more spiritual meaning to materials things.’ Although he had no formal training, he made many drawings of nudes. This sketchbook, published after Gill’s death, is dedicated to Gill’s adopted son Gordian. It reproduces Gill’s first experimental attempts at life drawing, many of which were done in Paris in 1926.