Madge Gill
East Ham, Essex, (now Greater London), GB, 1882
Madge Gill was an outstanding exponent of mediumistic art and remains one of the foremost British Outsider artists.
Madge Gill (1882-1961) is undoubtedly one of the world’s most highly regarded self-taught artists.
Roger Cardinal, who coined the term Outsider Art in 1972, writes in his latest biography ‘The Life of Madge Gill’: Gill’s frenetic improvizations have an almost hallucinatory quality, each surface being filled with checkerboard patterns that suggest giddy, quasi-architectural spaces. Afloat upon these swirling proliferations are the pale faces of discarnate and nameless women, sketched perfunctorily, albeit with an apparent concern for beauty, and with startled expressions.
Working under the control of Myrninerest, her spirit guide, Madge’s art remains an enigma.