Anger is mounting against Eric Gill, the British artist. Recently, a man damaged an Eric Gill sculpture with a hammer installed outside BBC Broadcasting House in central London. There has been a demand from rights activists to remove the sculpture ‘monument of paedophilia’ before the BBC building.
the international NGO, Save the Children, has decided to drop the font, Gill Sans, that was originally designed by Gill from its corporate logo. There was outcry from the public and within the organisation to disassociate itself with Gill’s work
Gill, a paedophile who died in 1940, had written in his diary details of how he sexually abused his daughters, sisters and dog. The statue before the BBC building was commissioned by then director-general Sir John Reith in the early 1930s. The statue ‘Prospero and Ariel from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, features a naked child, which is the centre of contention between activists and BBC.
The BBC has refused to take down the sculpture saying, “When the statue was commissioned, Ariel—as the spirit of the air—was seen as an appropriate symbol for the new dawn of broadcasting.”
The statement further added: “The BBC doesn’t condone the views or actions of Eric Gill. Clearly there are debates about whether you can separate the work of an artist from the art itself. We think the right thing to do is for people to have those discussions. We don’t think the right approach is to damage the artwork itself.”
However, BBC chose the easiest option: It has removed Gill Sans as its official font earlier this year.
Now, the international NGO, Save the Children, has decided to drop the font, Gill Sans, that was originally designed by Gill from its corporate logo. There was outcry from the public and within the organisation to disassociate itself with Gill’s work. Continuing with the font amounts to hypocrisy as a well-known children’s organisation using artwork produced by a man who molested his daughters.
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