Gill was born to an unmarried woman and spent 10 years in an orphanage. She married in 1907 but did not begin to paint until one of her sons died of influenza.

She became a spiritualist and felt she was guided by a spirit named Myrninerest. She would not sell her work because it belonged to this spirit. When she died aged 79 hundreds of paintings were found in her attic and under her bed. She is recognized as a major figure in Brut painting (art without precedent or tradition; art by "outsiders").

References

Norman, Geraldine. "Brut Force," Independent on Sunday Magazine [London], 30 May 1993, pp. 18-19, 21
Spalding, Frances. 20th Century Painters and Sculptors. (Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Club, 1990)

Indexes

European
Uk/great Britain
19th Century
20th Century
Art, Architecture, Planning
Mental Illness
Birth or Infancy
Unmarried Mother, Single Parent (Mother or Father) Unable to Cope
Institutional Care
Unmarried Mother