Recognised for her prolific, dense pen and ink drawings featuring disembodied, haunted looking female faces and repeat patterns of checkerboard and ziggurat designs, east London born Madge Gill (1882-1961) is one of the most widely acknowledged of the first wave of British Outsider artist discoveries. She also fits a typical 'outsider' profile: born illegitimate, traumatic childhood and adult experiences, no art training or desire for commercial success but with an obsessive compulsion to create. In Gill's case there is also a mediumistic dimension. She believed her work was directed by a spirit guide she called 'Myrninerest'.
This display of drawings, most of which have never been publicly exhibited, is the first of a consecutive, three-show celebration of Gill's work and presents her in a more rounded context. Although resistant to parting with her work (Myrninerest wouldn't have liked it), between 1932-1947 Gill did exhibit drawings in the Whitechapel Gallery's annual open 'East End Academy' exhibitions (the forerunner to 'The London Open' currently showing at the gallery), including striking, scroll-like drawings over 30-feet long.
One of these will be featuring in the nunnery's second show, opening on Aug 24. And while the Nunnery's exhibiting space may not be vast – a welcome revamp has turned one of its former galleries into a cafe – the works here are all striking, particularly a wall of drawings in exceptionally vibrant colours, something not normally associated with Gill. The reason for this is the gallery's unprecedented access to Newham Council's extensive archives of Gill's drawings (in exchange for the framing of the works), which were left in Newham's keeping by Gill's son, after her death. To enable these works to be seen, it seems a more than fair exchange.