Sunday, October 22, 2006
Betty Gill on EBay.
Last Thursday I listed a water colour painting.
I bought it some time ago at the boot sale in Dorking because I liked it.
It shows a view of The South Downs.
I feel sure that it is a view of Mount Caburn near Lewes.
All my childhood holidays were spent camping on Beddingham Hill looking across to Mount Caburn. The picture does not have the same view as we saw every day; I felt that the artist had been sitting beyond Furlongs Farm to achieve her painting.
When I got home I realised that the artist was Betty Gill. I was excited by this and wondered if she were the wife of Eric Gill, an artist of high renown. Internet research revealed that Eric Gill had a daughter Betty.
Now I will return to Furlongs Farm for a moment. The farm buildings were rented by artists. Old Farmer Freeman used to chuckle about them and Dad picked up his style and the people in the farm were referred to as "the artists" spoken with a strong Sussex accent, accentuating the r.
I really had little to do with them, but I know that when we did all meet they were pleasant and probably Dad and Mum enjoyed having contact with such Bohemian people.
I know now that some of them were artists of note; the best known being Eric Ravillious. He was dead by the time we took our holidays there. Peggy Angus, who we did know, has also had exhibitions in London.
So, I had a picture which might have been of Mount Caburn from Furlongs Farm. There were influential artists at the farm. My painting was by Betty Gill, whose father was one of the most prominent artists of the 2oth century.
Naturally I assumed that my Betty Gill was Eric Gill's daughter, Betty.
Perhaps you would like to see the picture now.
This is Bill's photograph of the picture for EBay.
Bill added the artist's name.
It is not framed - just a painted piece of cartridge paper which he lay on a blue backing card for the photograph.
I believed that if I had a work by somebody from an important family I should let it go. So I listed it on EBay with a modest opening bid of £24.95.
Soon I began to get some inquiries.
Hello. I am interested to know what makes you think that this watercolour was done by Betty, daughter of Eric Gill 1882/1940 and where the G came from as that is not in her name and in 1934 she was living in Capel-y-ffin and had been there since 1924. I would be very interested if you can throw some light on this. Have you any history,like where it came from etc. Many Thanks. Eric Williams.
Well, I thought - what does he know! I replied with everything I thought I knew, including the fact that Eric Gill stayed at Capel y Ffyn for only a few years and by the time the picture was painted he was not there.
I also assumed that his daughter would have become independent by this time (aged 29 in 1934) and she would have wanted to live away from her father who was, apart from his art, not a man to be respected, with some very strange ideas about sex and was a known paedophile, abusing Betty from an early age.
Well, my corrspondent has written again to tell me that he knows a great deal about Betty Gill (Eric Gill's daughter). She was his mother - Eric was his grandfather.
Hello Paula. I thank you for your quick response to my question and think I should come clean and respect your frankness. I was born in the Monastery at Capel-y-ffin and Betty was my mother, she married David Pepler and they had five children sadly David died very young in 1934 and in 1938 she married Harley Williams and from that marriage came three children myself and 2 girls one older than me and one younger. She was named Elizabeth Angela Williams nee Gill daughter of Arthur Eric Rowton Gill and Ethel Gill nee Moore. Betty as she was known was born in 1905 and died 1956. Yes E.G. moved to Piggott's in 1928 but Betty stayed in Capel-y-ffin with David farming and in 1935 she was Matron and Mary Winefride Reeves was Principal at the school that was started in the Monastery that closed at the start of the war and up to her death it was a home for a large family. A Youth Hostel. & a Guest House. I have asked three of her daughters and they have never heard of Betty using a G as an initial in her name. She did do a number of engravings five or six I believe. I could go on. If you have any questions please ask. All The Best. Eric.
It seems poignant that Betty held her father in high enough esteem to name her son after him.
Of course my first need was to cancel the listing. It was not what I had purported it to be. But there was a bid by this time, from somebody in the USA. I had to get in touch with him and explain the situation.
This afternoon the bidder has been in touch.
Yes please retract my bid. Thank you for your honesty and integrity. I am a museum curator in Dallas and working on a Gill paper and exhibition. Is there a way you can forward the information on how to contact Betty Gill's son so that I might interview him? I'm interested in Gill scholarship and I believe he needs to be recognized for his work here in the US through exhibition and publication
So, as far as I am concerned all is well. The bid has been retracted and the picture is no longer listed on EBay.
I have suggested that the American museum curator send me his EMail address which I can pass on to Eric Gill's grandson and hopefully the two of them will be able to corrspond and share information. It is nice to think that my picture might have led to that at least.
And I still have the picture. We will find a frame for it and I shall enjoy it on the wall. It will make me think of my own family and our holidays near Furlongs Farm, even if it is not Mount Caburn at all. And I will also think of the 2 Betty Gills and feel glad that this episode has brought them both into my life. I am glad to have dallied a while with Eric Gill - though perhaps I am glad he is not actually here to dally with. I know that some of his artwork is special, though some of it is rather deep and difficult. He created the Stations of the Cross in Westminster Cathedral where we went with Ashley and Ekatarina in the summer. Perhaps I should go back and have another look.
One day I might discover who Betty G Gill was. Maybe she was somebody at Furlongs Farm in the 1930s, but probably one of the less influential artists. It is a nice painting, but I acknowledge it is not a great work of art.
So, this EBay deal has all fallen through. But not every EBay problem is a disaster. All the people concerned have behaved well and been helpful and thoughtful (including me!). It ends up having been a pleasure to work through it.
