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Colin Unwin Gill (12 May 1892 – 16 November 1940) was an English artist who painted murals and portraits and is most notable for the work he produced as a war artist during the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighti ...
.


Biography


Early life

Colin Gill was born at
Bexleyheath Bexleyheath is a town in south-east London, England. It had a population of 31,929 as at 2011. Bexleyheath is located south-east of Charing Cross, and forms part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is identified in the London Plan as one of ...
in Kent. He studied at the
Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...
, and in 1913 became the first recipient of the Rome Scholarship in Decorative Painting to the
British School at Rome The British School at Rome (BSR) is an interdisciplinary research centre supporting the arts, humanities and architecture. History The British School at Rome (BSR) was established in 1901 and granted a UK Royal Charter in 1912. Its mission is " ...
.


First World War

At the start of World War I, Gill joined the
Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA). ...
and served with them on the Western Front as a second lieutenant with the 17th Heavy Battery until 1916, when he was seconded to the
Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the '' Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...
to work as a front-line camouflage officer. He was invalided back to England, with gas poisoning in March 1918, and spent several months recovering at the Hospital for Officers on the Isle of Wight. In May 1918, Gill offered his services as a war artist but, initially was turned down and continued to work as a camouflage instructor. After, the
British War Memorials Committee The British War Memorials Committee was a British Government body that throughout 1918 was responsible for the commissioning of artworks to create a memorial to the First World War. The Committee was formed in February 1918 when the Department of In ...
did commission Gill to produce a large work for the proposed, but never built
Hall of Remembrance The Hall of Remembrance was a series of paintings and sculptures commissioned, in 1918, by the British War Memorials Committee of the British Ministry of Information in commemoration of the dead of World War I. History The artworks commissi ...
, he was released from his duties at the Camouflage School and returned to France on 7 November 1918 to do sketches, and other work, for his BWMC commission. He stayed in France until 14 December 1918, visiting
Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century ...
only hours after it had been retaken by the Allies. At the front, Gill spent a week stationed in an artillery battery, where he suffered from
frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the h ...
. The visit to France resulted in the paintings ''Evening, After a Push'' and ''Heavy Artillery'', the painting intended for the Hall of Remembrance and, later, ''Canadian Observation Post'' for the Canadian War Memorials scheme. For ''Heavy Artillery'', Gill drew on his experience as a camouflage officer;- the two large howitzers in the painting both have a patchwork camouflage design and are covered in green netting to avoid detection by enemy aircraft.


Later life

By 1919, Gill had returned to the British School in Rome. Gill first exhibited with
New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and ...
in 1914 and eventually became a member of the group in 1926. He also showed works at the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...
from 1924 onwards and taught painting at the
Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It off ...
from 1922 until 1925. Between 1925 and 1927, Gill worked on a large mural, ''King Alfred's long-ships defeat the Danes, 877'', for St. Stephen's Hall in the
Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...
. This was followed by mural commissions for the
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...
, Essex County Hall in Chelmsford and
Northampton Guildhall Northampton Guildhall is a municipal building in St Giles' Square in Northampton, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. History The first guildhall in Northampton was a 12th-century building at the junction of Gold Street and Horsemark ...
. In the early thirties, Gill had an affair with
Mabel Lethbridge Mabel Florence Lethbridge BEM (7 July 1900 – 14 July 1968) was a 20th-century English writer and business woman. She was the youngest person at the time to receive the British Empire Medal, an award affiliated to the Order of the British Empir ...
, a Great War heroine and writer, while occupying a studio on the first floor of her
Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...
home. Her daughter Sue was the child model for Gill's 1934 painting ''The Kerry Flute Player''Liss Llewellyn Fine Art catalogue entry for 'Study for The Kerry Flute Player' 1934. In 1938, under the name Richard Saxby, Gill with his wife Una Long published the book ''Five Came to London''. In 1939, he received a commission to paint murals at the Johannesburg Magistrates' Courts and it was in South Africa, in November 1940, that he died, aged 48, of an illness.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, Colin 1892 births 1940 deaths 20th-century English male artists 20th-century English painters Academics of the Royal College of Art Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art British Army personnel of World War I British war artists Camoufleurs English male painters People from Bexleyheath Royal Garrison Artillery soldiers Royal Engineers officers World War I artists Royal Garrison Artillery officers Military personnel from Kent