NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Jacob Epstein

Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 19 August 1959) was an American-born Jewish sculptor who worked chiefly in the UK, where he pioneered modern sculpture, often producing controversial works that challenged taboos concerning what public artworks appropriately depict. Image File history File links Jacob_Epstein_(1934). ... Image File history File links Jacob_Epstein_(1934). ... Photographic self-portrait by Carl Van Vechten, 1934 Carl Van Vechten (June 17, 1880 â€“ December 21, 1964) was an American writer and photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary executor of Gertrude Stein. ... November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 51 days remaining. ... 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... August 19 is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... why hello hello Sculptor redirects here. ... Homosexuality is considered taboo in many cultures around the world. ...

Life

Epstein's parents were Polish Jewish refugees living on New York's Lower East Side. His family were middle class Orthadox Jews, and was the third of five childern. His interest in drawing came from long periods of illness as a child. From a young age, Epstein rejected his families orthodoxy and grew tired of religious ceremony. He took an interest in Pantheism and anarchism, but claims in his autobiography that his only real interest was art, and that he was never politically or religiously active as an adult. He studied art there as a teenager, sketching the city, and joined the Art Students League of New York in 1900. Then he worked in a bronze foundry by day, studying drawing and sculptural modeling at night. Epstein's first major commission was to illustrate Hutchins Hapgood's Spirit of the Ghetto. The money from the commission was used by Epstein to move to Paris. Moving to Europe in 1902, he studied in Paris at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts. He settled in London in 1905, and after marrying Margaret Dunlop in 1907 he became a British Citizen. Many of Epstein's works were sculpted at his two cottages in Loughton, Essex, where he lived first at no. 49 then 50, Baldwin's Hill (blue plaque on no.50). NY redirects here. ... Mural on Orchard Street and Houston Street by artist Marco L.E.S. redirects here. ... Pantheism (Greek: pan = all and Theos = God) literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ... Anarchist redirects here. ... The Art Students League of New York is an art school founded in 1875. ... Assorted ancient Bronze castings found as part of a cache, probably intended for recycling. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Region ÃŽle-de-France Department Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand DelanoÃ« (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land areaÂ¹ 86. ... The AcadÃ©mie Julian was an art school in Paris, France. ... Ã‰cole des Beaux-Arts (IPA ) refers to several art schools in France. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Loughton is a residential town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. ... A blue plaque showing information about The Spanish Barn at Torre Abbey in Torquay. ...

Despite being married to and continuing to live with Margaret, Epstein had a number of relationships with other women that brought him his five children; Peggy Jean (born 1918), Theo (born 1924), Kathleen (Kitty, born 1926), Esther (born 1929) and Jackie (born 1934). Margaret generally tolerated these relationships - even to the extent of bringing-up his first and last children. In 1921 Epstein began the longest of these relationship with Kathleen Garman [1], mother of his three middle children, which continued until his death. Margaret Epstein died in 1947 and after Epstein was knighted in 1954 he married Kathleen Garman in 1955. Year 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Kathleen Kitty Garman (born 1926), also known as Kathleen Epstein, is the daughter of Kathleen Garman and Jacob Epstein, who married some time after her birth. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for full calendar). ... The Garman Sisters The seven daughters (and two sons) of Walter and Margaret Garman, an eccentric Victorian doctor, lead notoriously high profile lives within mid 20th century artistic circles. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire (Military division) The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Kitty married painter Lucian Freud in 1948 and is mother of two of his daughters, Annie and Annabel. In 1953 they divorced. She married a second time in 1957, to economist Wynne Godley.[2] They have one daughter.^{[citation needed]} The Painters Room, 1943, private collection. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Garman Ryan Collection, including several works by Epstein, was donated to the people of Walsall, by Lady Epstein (Kathleen Garman) in 1973. It is on display in Walsall Art Gallery. New Art Gallery Walsall Walsall is an industrial town in the West Midlands of England. ... The Garman Sisters The seven daughters (and two sons) of Walter and Margaret Garman, an eccentric Victorian doctor, lead notoriously high profile lives within mid 20th century artistic circles. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... The New Art Gallery is sited in the centre of the West Midlands town of Walsall, England. ...

Although Epstein's work was highly original for its time, it is quite unlikely that his work had much of an influence on the younger generation of sculptors such as Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth as much of Epstein's work was not on public display and was kept in a few private collections, mainly in the United States. What is of interest is that Epstein, Moore and Hepworth, all expressed a deep fascination with the non-western art from the Brtish Museum. Reclining Figure (1951) outside the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, is characteristic of Moores sculptures, with an abstract female figure intercut with voids. ... Hepworths Family of Man in bronze, 1970, at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. ...

Work

In London, Epstein involved himself with a bohemian and artistic crowd. Revolting against ornate, pretty art, he made bold, often harsh and massive forms of bronze or stone. His sculpture is distinguished by its vigorous rough-hewn realism. Brilliantly avant-garde in concept and style, his works often shocked the general public. He often used expressively distorted figures, drawing more on non-Western art than the classical ideal. People in Liverpool nicknamed his nude male sculpture over the door of Lewis's department store "Dickie Lewis". Such factors may have focused disproportionate attention on certain aspects of Epstein's long and productive career, throughout which he aroused hostility, especially challenging taboos surrounding the depiction of sexuality. Works condemned in his time as obscene and disgraceful today communicate thought and understanding. The term Bohemian describes artists, writers, and disenchanted people of all sorts who wished to live non-traditional lifestyles. ... Realism is commonly defined as a concern for fact or reality and a rejection of the impractical and visionary. ... A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ... Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. ... One of John Lewis flagship branches in Glasgows Buchanan Galleries mall The John Lewis Partnership is a major United Kingdom retailer, operating department stores and, through its Waitrose subsidiary, upmarket supermarkets. ... This article is about the issues and phenomena pertaining to human sexual function and behavior. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...

London was not ready for Epstein's first major commission — 18 large nude sculptures made in 1908 for the façade of Charles Holden's building for the British Medical Association on The Strand (now Zimbabwe House) were initially considered shocking to Edwardian sensibilities. However, the mutilated condition of many of the sculptures has nothing to do with prudish censorship; it was caused in the 1930s when possibly dangerous projecting features were hacked-off after pieces fell from one of the statues. 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Charles Henry Holden (12 May 1875 - 1 May 1960) was an English architect known for his designs of stations on the London Underground railway system. ... The logo of the association. ... Strand, May 2001 St. ... Zimbabwe House at 429 Strand in central London is the Zimbabwean Embassy building in the United Kingdom, previously the countrys High Commission until the Zimbabwes withdrawal from the Commonwealth in 2004. ... The Edwardian period or Edwardian era in the United Kingdom is the period 1901 to 1910, the reign of King Edward VII. It succeeded the Victorian period and is sometimes extended to include the period up to the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, the start of World War... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Between 1913 to 1915 Epstein was associated with the short-lived Vorticism movement and produced one of his best known sculptures The Rock Drill. Year 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Wyndham Lewis Vorticism was a short lived British art movement of the early 20th century. ...

A commission from Holden for the new headquarters building of the London Electric Railway generated another controversy in 1929. His nude sculptures Day and Night above the entrances of 55 Broadway were again considered indecent and a debate ragged for sometime regarding demands to remove the offending statutes which had been carved in-situ. Eventually a compromise was reached to modify the smaller of the two figures represented on Day. But the controversy affected his commissions for public work which dried-up until World War II. Download high resolution version (883x574, 120 KB)Jacob Epsteins Day and Night (1928) Portland stone, carved for London Undergrounds Headquarters at 55 Broadway London. ... Download high resolution version (883x574, 120 KB)Jacob Epsteins Day and Night (1928) Portland stone, carved for London Undergrounds Headquarters at 55 Broadway London. ... The Cenotaph, in Whitehall, London, England, is made from Portland stone Portland stone is limestone from the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. ... London Undergrounds headquarters are built above St. ... // History Formation The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited (UER) was the holding company, for three of the new deep-level tube underground railway lines constructed in London in the first decade of the 20th century. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... London Undergrounds headquarters are built above St. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States France Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Charles de Gaulle Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hirohito Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...

Between the late 1930s and the mid 1950s, numerous works by Epstein were exhibited in Blackpool. Adam, Consummatum Est, Jacob and the Angel and Genesis (amongst other less notable works) were initially displayed in an old drapery shop surrounded by red velvet curtains. The crowds were ushered in at the cost of a shilling by a barker on the street. After a small tour of American fun fairs, the works were returned to Blackpool and were exhibited in the anatomical curiosities section of the Louis Tussaud's waxworks. The works were displayed alongside dancing marionettes, diseased body parts and siamese babies in jars. Placing Epstein within the context of freakish curiosity, especially at a time of such hostility towards the Jews, perhaps added to Epstein's decision not to create further large-scale direct carvings. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The 1950s was the decade spanning from the 1st of January, 1950 to the 31st of December, 1959. ... Blackpool is a seaside town in north-western England. ... This page describe terms and jargon related to sculpture and sculpting. ...

Bronze portrait sculpture formed one of Epstein's staple products, and perhaps the best known. These sculptures were often executed with roughly textured surfaces, expressively manipulating small surface planes and facial details. Some fine examples are in the National Portrait Gallery. Assorted ancient Bronze castings found as part of a cache, probably intended for recycling. ... The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in central London which was opened in 1856. ...

His larger sculpture was his most expressive and experimental, but also his most vulnerable. His depiction of Rima, one of author W. H. Hudson's most famous characters, graces a serene enclosure in Hyde Park. Even here, a visitor became so outraged as to defile it with paint. William Henry Hudson (August 4, 1841 - August 18, 1922) was an Argentinan-British author, naturalist and ornithologist. ... The Serpentine, viewed from the eastern end Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London and one of the Royal Parks of London. ...

Epstein was one of 250 sculptors who exhibited in the 3rd Sculpture International held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the summer of 1949. 3rd Sculpture International was an exhibition of sculpture that included works from 250 sculptors from around the world. ... The Philadelphia Museum of Art, located at the west end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphias Fairmount Park, was founded in 1876 in conjunction with the Centennial Exposition of the same year and is now among the largest and most important art museums in the United States. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ...

Enthusiastic about his work, Epstein would sculpt the images of friends, casual acquaintances, and even people dragged from the street into his studio almost at random. He worked even on his dying day.

Selected major pieces

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1920x2560, 939 KB) Photograph by Rama File links The following pages link to this file: Oscar Wilde PÃ¨re Lachaise ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1920x2560, 939 KB) Photograph by Rama File links The following pages link to this file: Oscar Wilde PÃ¨re Lachaise ... Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 â€“ November 30, 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, short story writer and Freemason. ... PÃ¨re Lachaise - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The logo of the association. ... Strand, May 2001 St. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 â€“ November 30, 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, short story writer and Freemason. ... Looking down the hill at the PÃ¨re-Lachaise cemetery The cimetiÃ¨re du PÃ¨re-Lachaise (pronounced pierre la-sh-ez) is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris (there are larger cemeteries in Paris suburbs). ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Region ÃŽle-de-France Department Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand DelanoÃ« (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land areaÂ¹ 86. ... Year 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... Yale redirects here. ... The Yale Center for British Art is an art museum associated with Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in the United States. ... Nickname: The Elm City Location in Connecticut Coordinates: Counties New Haven County Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast-metal sculpture of bronze is often called a bronze. ... Wheathampstead is a small village north of St Albans, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. ... 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Serpentine, viewed from the eastern end Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London and one of the Royal Parks of London. ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... London Undergrounds headquarters are built above St. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Blackpool is a seaside town in north-western England. ... Harewood House as of 2005, seen from the garden Harewood House from A Complete History of the County of York by Thomas Allen (1828â€“30), showing the house before Barry altered the facades and added an extra storey to the pavilions. ... Year 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... The Tate Gallery in the United Kingdom is a network of four galleries: Tate Britain (opened 1897), Tate Liverpool (1988), Tate St Ives (1993), Tate Modern (2000), with a complementary website Tate Online (1998). ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... College name New College of St Mary Collegium Novum Oxoniensis/Collegium Sanctae Mariae Wintoniae Named after Mary, mother of Jesus Established 1379 Sister College Kings College Warden Prof. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The roofless ruins of the old cathedral. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Serpentine, viewed from the eastern end Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London and one of the Royal Parks of London. ... Image File history File links Cathedral_St_Michaels_Victory. ... Image File history File links Cathedral_St_Michaels_Victory. ... The roofless ruins of the old cathedral. ...

Quotations

"To accuse me of making sensations is the easiest way of attacking me, and in reality leaves the question of sculpture untouched." - Jacob Epstein, An Autobiography (London, 1955), p.29

"A wife, a lover, can perhaps never see what the artist sees. They rarely ever do.Perhaps a really mediocre artist has more chance of success." — Jacob Epstein

Bibliography

Buckle, Richard, Jacob Epstein : sculptor , (London: Faber 1963) Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

Cronshaw, Jonathan, The Sideshow and the Problems of History: Jacob Epstein's Adam (1939). (University of Leeds, 2005)

Epstein, Jacob, The sculptor speaks : Jacob Epstein to Arnold L. Haskell, a series of conversations on art, (London : W. Heinemann, 1931.) Arnold Lionel Haskell (July 19, 1903, London - November 14, 1980, Bath) was a British dance critic who founded the Carmago Society in 1930, and Sadlers Wells Ballet School in 1947. ...

Epstein, Jacob, Let there be sculpture : an autobiography, (London: Michael Joseph, 1940)

Friedman, Terry, 'The Hyde Park atrocity' : Epstein's Rima : creation and controversy (Leeds: Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture, 1988)

Gardner, Stephen, Jacob Epstein: Artist Against the Establishment, (London: Joseph, 1992)

Hapgood, Hutchins, The spirit of the ghetto : studies of the Jewish quarter of New York; with drawings from life by Jacob Epstein, (New York ; London : Funk and Wagnalls, 1909)

Silber, Evelyn et al. Jacob Epstein : sculpture and drawings, (Leeds : Leeds City Art Galleries ; London : Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1987)

Carving mountains : modern stone sculptures in England 1907-37 : Frank Dobson, Jacob Epstein, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Eric Gill, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, John Skeaping. (Cambridge: Kettles Yard, 1998) The Right Honourable Frank Gordon Dobson (born March 15, 1940) is a British politician and member of Parliament for Holborn and St. ... Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (4 October 1891 â€“ 5 June 1915) was a French sculptor who developed a rough hewn, primitive style of direct carving. ... Arthur Eric Rowton Gill (February 22, 1882â€“November 17, 1940) was a British sculptor, typographer and engraver. ... Hepworths Family of Man in bronze, 1970, at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. ... Reclining Figure (1951) outside the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, is characteristic of Moores sculptures, with an abstract female figure intercut with voids. ... Ben Nicholson (April 10, 1894 - February 6, 1982), British abstract painter, was born in Denham, Buckinghamshire. ... John Skeaping (1901-1980) was an English sculptor. ...

External links

Categories: Articles with unsourced statements | 1880 births | 1959 deaths | British sculptors | Jewish sculptors | Vorticists | Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1536x2048, 298 KB) Jan Smuts statue in Parliament Square, London; 13 June 2006 NB: The sculptor was Jacob Epstein --Runcorn 19:37, 14 June 2006 (UTC) I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1536x2048, 298 KB) Jan Smuts statue in Parliament Square, London; 13 June 2006 NB: The sculptor was Jacob Epstein --Runcorn 19:37, 14 June 2006 (UTC) I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or... Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS (May 24, 1870 â€“ September 11, 1950) was a prominent South African and Commonwealth statesman, military leader, and philosopher. ... Anti-war protesters gather at Parliament Square on the afternoon of March 20, 2003. ...

Contents