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Three works by the sculptor and artist Eric Gill, who sexually abused his daughters, have been withdrawn from a UK exhibition opening on 5 July.
Two of the works—a wood engraving and a drawing—depict Gill’s daughter Petra, naked in a bath, while the other is a drawing of a nude Elizabeth. Each had been lined up for inclusion in the exhibition It Takes A Village at the Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft (until 1 February 2026), focused on artists who, like Gill, worked in the Sussex village in the early 20th century. The decision to not show the works, which are part of the museum’s collection, came after staff consulted a group of abuse survivors.
Gill’s art has been controversial since his abuse and incestuous relationship with his sister, Gladys, came to light in a 1989 biography by Fiona MacCarthy. A sculpture on the front of BBC Broadcasting House in London, depicting Prospero and Ariel, has been vandalised twice—in 2022 and 2023. It has since been restored and was reinstated in April.
The Ditchling museum made the decision to invite four women from the Methodist Survivors Advisory Group, who had themselves been abused when they were younger, to co-curate the section of the show dedicated to Gill. The group had previously been involved in discussions over whether the UK’s Methodist Modern Art Collection (MMAC) should still own Gill’s watercolour, Annunciation (around 1912), which shows a dominant Angel Gabriel looming over the Virgin Mary.
The MMAC heard about the Ditchling’s plan for a show involving Gill’s work and got in touch with the museum, offering The Annunciation as a loan and suggesting a collaboration with the survivors group—which was agreed.
The survivors felt that the three Ditchling-owned works of Gill’s naked daughters—titled Girl in a Bath I, Girl in a Bath II and From Eliz and part of the Ditchling‘s collection—were offensive and could upset visitors to It Takes a Village. These objections were taken on board by the museum’s director Stephanie Fuller.
“I wanted to take the lead from the survivors group about what we could show,” Fuller says. “I had a long list of works, which was whittled down, and, after many discussions, they felt the three works were unsuitable. So they will not be in the exhibition.”
“We appreciate Steph’s decision,” says Vivien Almond, a member of the survivors group. “They are totally inappropriate. I’m also sure that Gill’s daughters never wanted to be depicted that way, nor did they give permission.”
Some of the survivors group also had concerns about Annunciation as it shows a dominant Angel Gabriel looming over the Virgin Mary. It will be included in the Ditchling museum’s It Takes A Village exhibition, however in a separate room featuring some of Gill’s more controversial works.
Giving voice to Gill’s daughters
A key mission of the show is to celebrate the lives and achievements of Gill’s three daughters, “not as victims but as subsequently having fulfilled lives”, Fuller says. All three—the youngest being Joanna—married, had children and worked in the creative arts. “Their voices have been missing,” says Fuller.
Among the exhibits will be Petra’s handweaving and the wedding dress she made herself, plus drawings and booklets by all three daughters.
A scarf handwoven and dyed by Petra Tegetmeier (Eric Gill’s daughter) from around 1920
Courtesy of the Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft
The museum has also very recently discovered art by Petra, Elizabeth and Joanna, which they had sent to the sculptor Joseph Cribb, Gill’s apprentice. The works, which were part of a collection given to the museum by Cribb’s grandson, include a drawing by Elizabeth of horses and dogs, made for Cribb after he was invalided out of World War One; an etching by Petra of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, sent to Cribb as a Christmas card; and Joanna’s Three Kings from the Orient.
“The three were all very fond of Joseph,” says Fuller.
Fuller has talked to some of Gill’s relatives about the exhibition. One, Jenny Davies, who is a great-granddaughter, is, according to Fuller, “happy with the approach” the museum has taken.
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