The BBC Broadcasting House in London has restored a sculpture by Eric Gill, an artist associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement who is also known to have sexually abused his daughters, on its exterior. The work is now encased behind panels of protective glass after it was defaced twice.
A BBC spokeswoman told the BBC, which first reported the news, the corporation “in no way condones Gill’s abusive behaviour” but that it “draws a line between the actions of Gill, and the status of these artworks.”
Gill’s sculpture, dating to the 1930s, depicts the characters Prospero and Ariel from The Tempest by William Shakespeare. In addition, to working as a sculptor and printmaker, Gill was also a typeface designer of fonts like Perpetua and Gill Sans, which bears his name, according to the website Typeroom.
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Gill’s history of abuse was first revealed in his 1989 biography by Fiona McCarthy, published nearly five decades after his death in 1940. According to his private diaries, which McCarthy consulted, Gill documented sexually abusing his two daughters, Elizabeth and Petra, while they were minors; incest with his sister, Gladys; and sexual abuse of his maid and his dog. (His two daughters were still alive when McCarthy’s biography was published.)
A QR code accompanying the reinstallation gives more context to the reinstallation, stating that because the BBC Broadcasting House is a Grade II listed building that is recognized “for its unique architectural and cultural importance,” the BBC’s protective glass has been added as part of its obligation to protect the building,” according to the Art Newspaper.
The QR code echoes the spokeswoman’s language about Gill stating that it “in no way condones Gill’s abusive behaviour,” but that it “draws a line between his life and his artistic creations.”
Gill’s sculpture has faced multiple calls for its removal over the years, and it was vandalized in 2022 and 2023. A man named David Chick has been accused of committing the act; he has pleaded not guilty. He has since been ordered not to go within 100 meters of the sculpture and has a trial date set for May, according to the Art Newspaper.
Separating Gill’s art from his biography as an abuser has been a topic of debate in the UK for years. In 2017 the Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, about two hours south of London, mounted an exhibition on Gill, which included an envelope in which Gill had written down the measurements of his daughter’s body parts alongside that of the measurements of his erect and flaccid penis. According to an extensive report in the Guardian, although the exhibition mentioned Gill’s sexual abuse of his daughters it wasn’t the focus of the show. Nathaniel Hepburn, the museum’s then director, stated at the time, “We think it’s going to be an amazing exhibition that will show Gill as an amazing artist. It’s not a show about sexual abuse. It asks the question: does the biography change our appreciation of these things?”
Hepburn added, “We don’t want to be disingenuous. However, it’s not appropriate to tell this story when you’re looking at, say, Gill’s lettering or religious stone carving. It’s not relevant. Our current thinking is that we will make sure there is always one object on display that enables us to tell the story.”