Madge Gill’s mother hides for a long time the existence of the illegitimate child before placing her in an orphanage at the age of nine. In 1903 Madge Gill became a nurse and lived with her aunt, who initiated her to spiritualism and astrology. Four years later, she married. Her life was regularly overshadowed by the successive disappearance of several children. In 1918 she fell ill, remained bedridden few months and lost the use of her left eye. Drawing and the contact with “Myrninerest” — the spirit who guided and inspired her writings, drawings and piano improvisations – occupied therefore all her life. Working at night, by candlelight, she produced thousands of drawings, the size of which can vary from a few centimeters to over eleven meters for the longest ones (on large sheets). She is the only subject of her representations, never showing her entire body, only her face, forever repeated within labyrinths constituted of architectural and abstract patterns. After the death of her son in 1958 she started drinking and completely ceased to draw. Having always refused to sell her works, it was only after her death that heaps of drawings were discovered in her home, piled up in cupboards and under her bed.
GILL madge
