Outsider Artist Madge Gill

Madge Gill (England, 1882-1961)

Madge Gill is one of Britain’s most famous outsider artists. Born in London to an unmarried mother, at the age of nine she was placed in an orphanage and subsequently sent to Canada to work as a farm hand. At the age of nineteen Gill returned to London to live with her aunt who introduced her to spiritualism. Later she married and moved from her aunt’s home, but Gill’s belief in the spirit world continued.

Gill's discovery of drawing was a direct result of attempts to psychically contact her daughter and one of her sons, who had died during the influenza epidemic of 1918, the other side. She maintained that she was guided by a spirit she called "Myrninerest" (My inner rest?) and she often signed works in that name.

Her oeuvre ranges from postcards, produced one after another in all-night sittings, to works covering immense rolls of calico, which she finished incrementally, earlier parts of the drawing becoming hidden as the fabric was rolled to reveal a new blank surface. At times Gill exhibited work at amateur art exhibitions in the East End of London, but she rarely sold her creations, insisting that they belonged to her spirit guide.

Selected Exhibition History:
2005
“Von Fremder Hand Geführt Kunst Von Medien”
Galerie Suzanne Zander

2003
“OutsideIN: Outsider Art at the Herron Gallery”
Herron Art Gallery, Herron School of Art
Indianapolis, Indiana

“Far Out 2003”
Judy A Saslow Gallery, Chicago, IL

“ABCD: A Collection of Art Brut”
Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL

2002
“All About Women: From Eve To Marilyn,”
The Anthony Petullo Collection, Milwaukee

“Eight From Europe”
Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Chicago, IL

2001
“ABCD: A Collection of Art Brut,”
Museum of American Folk Art, New York