Article of the Week - number eighty one - a Madge Gill drawing

Madge Gill was born Maud Ethel Eades in Walthamstow, London in 1882 and had a disrupted childhood because she was illegitimate.

She lived in Canada, having been sent there from England after being placed in a Barnados Orphanage, despite her mother still being alive, but returned to England in her late teenage years. In 1920, after much tragedy in her life, she was contacted by Myrninerest who she believed was an ancient Babylonian and her spirit guide, and thus began a life of artistic creativity.

Madge often used textile crafts in work: knitting, tapestry and embroidery. This drawing is one of her postcard pieces, part of Madge's prodigious output which often featured faces and geometrical patterns. 

For more information about the artist have a look at this webpage and this one. Madgegill.com has many artworks and decorating dissidence has some of the textile works created by an extraordinary woman who broke with tradition to produce completely distinctive and individual work.