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LINKS

Places To Visit

Lindisfarne Castle

Lindisfarne Castle in Northumberland has a magnificent map (pictured) painted by Max in 1912/13 (see gallery). 

For opening times see the Castle website:

Scott Polar Research Institute (The Polar Museum)

Scott Polar Research Institute (The Polar Museum) where Max painted beautiful maps of the Arctic and Antarctic in the domes of the original building (see gallery) in 1934. 

Well worth a visit just to see those:

Kelmarsh Hall, Northamptonshire

Kelmarsh Hall in Northamptonshire has a splendid painted map – the Pytchley Hunt – by Max Gill (see gallery). 

The house is only open to the public on certain days.  Do check before going:

London Transport Museum

London Transport Museum has copies of all the decorative poster maps (see gallery) and network maps that Max designed for the Underground as well as some original artwork.  

Some of these can be seen on the website: 

The Art Workers' Guild

This was, and still is, an important meeting place for craftsmen and women.

Max came here regularly during his working life to hear such eminent speakers as Emery Walker and Halsey Ricardo:

Chichester Cathedral

Chichester Cathedral played a major role in Max’s life.

As a boy he explored every corner and often attended services; and later as an architect and designer, he was responsible for numerous works here, including the design of furnishings and lettering of part of the roll of honour in St George’s Chapel (dedicated to the Royal Sussex Regiment) and several memorials including for Gustav Holst (now buried under a newer tablet) and Thomas Weelkes:

 

Briantspuddle, Dorset

Briantspuddle in Dorset has a community website with information about the history and building of the village.

Many of the buildings here were designed and built by MacDonald Gill during WW1:

St. Andrew's Church

St. Andrew’s Church, Roker, Sunderland often called ‘The Arts & Crafts Cathedral of the North’, has several items by MacDonald Gill including  a magnificent painted chancel ceiling depicting The Creation, and a painted World War 1 memorial. 

There are also 2 tablets carved by his brother Eric Gill:

The British Library and V&A

The British Library and the V&A both have a number of Max’s poster maps in their collections:

Information and Articles

Twentieth Century Posters

Twentieth Century Posters is the web-based poster firm of David Bownes, former Head of Collections at the London Transport Museum. The site has a gallery of superb vintage posters – sometimes even a MacDonald Gill one – and also many interesting blog articles. Here’s the link to an article I wrote for David in early 2016:

University of Brighton Conservation Blog

The University of Brighton hosted the international symposium and exhibition Out of the Shadows: MacDonald Gill in the summer of 2011. The legacy of this is an informative digital resource covering the main areas of the show:

University of Brighton​

The University also organised the conservation of a number of works which were included in the exhibition. Sirpa Kutilainen, the conservator, kept a fascinating on-line journal about her work on the Max Gill pieces starting on Jan 10th 2011:

Eric Gill Society

The Eric Gill Society website provides a resource for the work and history of Max’s brother Eric Gill and the Guild of St Joseph, founded in Ditchling, Sussex:

Lutyens Trust

The Lutyens Trust is a useful source of information on the life and the houses of the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, who commissioned Max Gill for painted maps and other work:

Sun Engraving

Sun Engraving was a large Watford printing firm for which MacDonald Gill did much work, including its emblem and a large painted map. It no longer exists but there is an excellent resource at this website:

The Cartographic Impact of MacDonald Gill's Wonderground Map of 1913

A fascinating account describing how Max’s ‘The Wonderground Map of London Town’ was a landmark map not only in England, but also across the world.
 
Written by Elizabeth Burdon, a Seattle dealer in maps and ephemera, and speaker at the symposium in Brighton 2011 ‘Out of the Shadows: MacDonald Gill’ :

Rod Barron

Map dealer Rod Barron, has become a massive fan of MacDonald Gill’s work and as well as amassing a collection of his maps, he has done some interesting research. To find out more, visit his website:

Restoration of a MacDonald Gill Map

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