Eric Gill artwork initiates conversations about abuse

Eric Gill is an early 20th-century artist who abused his daughters. His watercolour, Annunciation (c.1912), in the Methodist Modern Art Collection, was withdrawn from touring in 2017, placed in the reserve collection and removed from our website.

In 2022, the management committee reconsidered its future in consultation with the Methodist Survivors Advisory Group, a group devoted to survivors of any kind of abuse, particularly in a church. 

The survivors felt the watercolour should not be hidden away by the church or “swept under the carpet”, as sexual abuse has been in the past. Instead, they saw an opportunity to change the narrative, using Annunciation to initiate conversations about abuse and acknowledging victims. 

Discussions with the survivors resulted in returning the picture to the website, but with interpretation about Gill’s sexual abuse, as revealed in his diaries.

A new website biography of Gill, acknowledging his abuse of his daughters, was developed, which involved consulting microfiches of Gill’s diaries with a survivor and support worker. 

The survivors responded to Annunciation individually and were uneasy about Gill’s depiction of the subject. One survivor felt it was “unsettling, especially considering the artist’s history. It depicts Mary as small and vulnerable before an overpowering male angel in a claustrophobic bedroom with a single small window”.

Another said: “Angel Gabriel appears intimidating, looming over Mary in her personal space – her bedroom. Mary is kneeling, submissive, controlled – there is only a small window and no escape, suggesting sexual posturing.”

The survivors also hoped to see Annunciation redisplayed, so I approached Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft in East Sussex in 2024. They were interested in co-curating a section of an upcoming exhibition and the survivors wanted to borrow Gill’s Annunciation. 

His daughters, as survivors themselves, emerged as the focus for this display. 

One survivor said: “People always remember the name of the perpetrator, which is important, so they don’t forget. However, those they’ve abused are pushed into the shadows, and sharing the daughters’ story brings them back into the light.” 

Another survivor said: “The process has been challenging at times. But it has been fulfilling to turn a negative lived experience into something positive. Our views were respected and listened to – even when we disagreed. It has been a co-production.” 

Ann Sumner is the chair of the Methodist Modern Art Collection Management Committee