Jacob Epstein

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Born: 1880

Died: 1959

Summary of Jacob Epstein

In his sculptures, Jacob Epstein tried to capture the majesty of human existence while also expressing the majesty of the materials he used to make it. There was an inherent dignity in both the subject matter and the medium that Epstein etched it in for him. Epstein travelled to cities all across the globe during the start of the 20th century, from New York to Paris to London. An important figure in contemporary sculpture, Epstein believed that expressing human life and natural elements directly might lead to artworks that accurately depicted people and their surroundings. Rock Drill (1913), for example, showed how new technology might either free people or be used to further enslave them. His statues of Albert Einstein (1933) and Paul Robeson (1928) capture the grit and determination of these two great American heroes. He rejected European tradition and conventional morality as attempts to control and suppress the creative process in his creative process, which he believed were imposed on him. This made him both a contentious and important figure in the evolution of contemporary sculpture, all at the same time.

Epstein believed that the act of creative production was inextricably connected to the sexual act. Human and natural processes like sexuality and creativity were driven by the most primal urges, both of which culminated in something new. Conventional artists, critics, and collectors thought he was scandalous because of his open and realistic sexual imagery, but he stuck with it in works like Facade of the British Medical Association (1907-08) and Tomb of Oscar Wilde (1909-1912).

When it came to subject matter and materials, Epstein was a pioneer because he looked outside the borders of Europe. It is said that he adopted the aesthetics of India, Africa, the Native American and the Pacific Islander civilizations, and took inspiration from them. As a means of expressing one’s life, Epstein believed that art must include all people. In works like Genesis, you can see his broad perspective on the world (1929).

For many years, Epstein’s work has been cited as an essential example of Direct Carving, in which the subject is not first sketched or modelled in clay and then repeatedly carved in various materials until the artist is satisfied that they have successfully replicated their original model. As an alternative, the sculptor works directly on the selected material, hoping to find a way to spontaneously convey the picture that the artist thought already existing inside the substance in some previously unknown form. Even in the creative process, Epstein insisted on using only materials that were true to themselves, and he used the phrase “truth to material” often.

Childhood

Jacob Epstein was born on November 10th, 1880, on the Lower East Side of New York City. In the 1860s, his Polish-born parents fled to the United States and settled in New York. As a result of his success, Jacob’s father amassed a sizable portfolio of tenements. The family has a total of five members. A sickly kid, Jacob was forced to stay home ill for almost two years as a teenager. While writing his autobiography, Epstein pondered whether his “sickness” made him different from other kids since he spent so much time researching, sketching, and reading. Epstein’s book was published in 1955.

Epstein received a prize at the Cooper Union in an art competition in the 1890s. In addition, he took courses at the Art Students League and apprenticed with the renowned sculptor George Grey Bernard. He also studied under Bernard. His early sketches, which have since vanished, were inspired by the city’s rich cultural life and used the backdrops of the Jewish, Black, Asian, and Italian populations. Though he strayed from Orthodox Judaism because of his political (specifically socialist) and artistic interests, he remained passionate about the ceremonial aspects of his faith throughout his life.

“The wailing prayers at the synagogue on Saturday were a source of irritation for me, and they will continue to do so…

With my reading and free-thinking views I eventually abandoned any ceremonial forms practise… I had no devotional emotions, for sure…

The Passover Holidays have always piqued my attention because of the beautiful dinner rituals…

Sincerity and simplicity characterise Polish Jewry’s old-world lifestyle; an artist may use this as inspiration for some of their best work “‘s a good example of this.

Epstein had made up his mind to be a sculptor by the year 1901. His creative output still included drawings. He agreed to illustrate Hutchins Hapgood’s book, The Spirit of the Ghetto: Studies of the Jewish Quarter in New York (1902). There was much discussion about what it was like for Eastern European Jews to adapt and assimilate in the new world. Epstein’s drawings show what he saw as the daily lives of people in the Lower East Side’s Jewish community. A passage from Hapgood’s book shows how Epstein may have interacted with his parents’ conventional world:

“It doesn’t take long for the Orthodox Jewish forces that are still exerting pressure on him to dissipate. He begins to think of his family’s ritual routine as absurd as he gets older. Despite the fact that they cannot communicate with him in English, he sees his elderly parents as ignorant newcomers. Even at home, he uses English as his primary language, and Yiddish slowly fades from his memory “‘s a good place to start.

Early Life

Epstein was able to live in Europe because of the reputation and fortune he acquired from illustrating Hapgood’s book. Shortly after his arrival to the City of Lights, Louis decided to enrol at the École des Beaux-Arts. While he was there, he had a negative experience because of the limited teaching approach. The other students were suspicious of him since he was a foreigner. While enduring these difficulties, he continued to visit the museums of Paris on a regular basis, particularly those specialising in ancient art from Egypt, early Greek civilizations, the Iberian Peninsula, and China.

Epstein made the decision to come to London in 1904 after seeing the British Museum. Prior to the war, he travelled between the creative circles in Paris and London, where he became a regular in cafés. He ultimately acquired residence in England.

Epstein received a contract from the British Medical Association in London in 1907 to carve a set of eighteen over-sized nude caryatid-like figures. The portrayal of old age and pregnancy sparked debate because it defied social conventions and taboos prevalent in Edwardian England at the time. It was with Maternity (1908), one of the works in this series, that Epstein became known in the British art world as a daring, contentious, and significant figure.

Mid Life

Epstein began experimenting with Direct Carving, which Brancusi had developed a few years previously with mason and stone carver Eric Gill. The technique acknowledged the inherent characteristics and form of the material while allowing the carving process to determine the finished sculpture’s design rather than a preconceived concept for it.

Young Epstein was mesmerised by Paris. Picasso, Brancusi, and Modigliani made friends with him during his six-month sojourn in Barcelona in 1913. He also started collecting African and Pacific art at this period.

A generation of European artists had their hopes dashed when the First World War broke out. Even though Epstein didn’t join the military until 1917, the deaths of artist Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and art critic and poet Thomas Hulme affected him deeply. Epstein’s unit, the 38th Jewish Battalion, was scheduled to sail for Palestine shortly after he joined the army, but he failed to show up for duty and was returned home early. Epstein was hospitalised for a short period after that (due to a mental breakdown), but he was eventually released.

After Epstein’s mental collapse, he needed many years to recover. In 1920, he made his creative comeback with The Risen Christ, a work he had started before the war and finished to much criticism. As a monument to the inhumanity and brutality of war, the sculpture is neither Christian nor Jewish in its inspiration.

Epstein’s career took a turn for the better in the 1920s. At the Leicester Galleries, a one-man exhibition of his sculpture portraits helped establish his renown as a notable modeller. Commissions began to flood in, reaching a zenith in the 1930’s and 1940’s when he was commissioned to paint over 100 portraits. Critics remarked on Epstein’s “surgical objectivity” in expressing the characteristics of the sitter. The Royal College of Art did not accept his application for the Chair of Sculpture in 1924 despite the fact that his status as one of the top British sculptors was well-known.

Epstein’s creative life, which was marked by conflicting interests and resentment of the avant-garde, was mirrored in his personal life. His wife Margaret Dunlop (married in 1906; daughter Peggy Jean) and a young student named Kathleen Garman were his primary caregivers for many years (met in 1921; children Theo, Kitty and Esther). Epstein’s quick temper and propensity to rage made life difficult for Margaret and Kathleen. Oddly enough, he never once mentions Kathleen in his memoirs from 1939.

Late Life

When it came to his sculpting career, Epstein mostly worked in the Direct Carving style from the 1930s through the 1950s, tackling taboo subjects like pregnancy and parenthood in an honest and provocative manner. The portrait of Albert Einstein (1933) is arguably Epstein’s roughest and most impressionistic work; it was painted during Einstein’s brief sojourn in the United Kingdom after he fled Nazi-occupied Europe. The bust was well praised by the media.

Nearly little is known about Epstein’s feelings throughout WWII and the Holocaust. During the Nazi invasion of Poland, he wrote the following in his autobiography, Let There Be Sculpture: “Artists come in all shapes and sizes and hail from all over the world, so forming a racial collective is absurd. To be called the greatest or preeminent Jewish artist irritates me more than it flatters me. Being an artist, in and of itself, should enough.”

A number of high-profile bust commissions followed, including Winston Churchill and Princess Margaret. Epstein also completed many high-profile public sculptures over the following years. It wasn’t until 1953 that the British cultural elite finally accepted him as a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors and knighted him a year later, in 1954, even though he had become a British citizen in 1911.

Despite his late-life success, Epstein was deeply saddened by the loss of his children, Theo and Esther, who died tragically in 1954. Both had battled depression for a long time.

Jacob Epstein, who was 79 when he died on August 19th in London, was an American poet. The Dean of Canterbury Cathedral conducted the funeral service despite the fact that he was Jewish.

Until recently, Epstein’s impact on 20th-century art was grossly underappreciated. He’s well known for his portraits and architectural models. However, this view ignores Epstein’s contribution to avant-garde sculpture between 1910 and 1915, or his devotion to Direct Carving. Later generations of British sculptors such as Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore drew inspiration from Epstein’s work.

For many artists and commentators alike, Epstein’s work changed their perspective on Europe. After his death, the British Museum acquired his prized collection of African and Pacific sculpture, which was among the finest private collections of non-Western art at the time. The Israel Museum in Jerusalem and the kibbutz Ain Herod in Galilee each received around 200 of his plaster castings. Epstein paved the way for other artists interested in exploring creative forms found outside of Western culture.

Famous Art by Jacob Epstein

Genesis

1929

The “strangest and most disturbing of all his works” among Epstein’s non-commissioned carvings, it is also one of the most misunderstood pieces in the collection. It depicts a very pregnant lady with large thighs, hands, and a large tummy, with a face that resembles an African mask carved in marble. For Epstein, “my feminine” would be the eternal primal feminine, or “the mother of all races.” This contrasts with our modern sculpture’s coquetries and fanciful erotic nudes. How a figure like this contrasts with our coquetries and fanciful erotic nudes, as Epstein explains in his Autobiography (1940). Some critics dubbed the sculpture a “blasphemy in stone” because of the way it combined grandeur with ugliness.. A number of other reviewers agreed with him, praising its exquisite nature and asserting that the impact of a work of art can never be adequately expressed in words. Another interpretation was that it was meant to emphasise humanity and show how people of all races have the same ancestry.

Albert Einstein

1933

To put it simply, Epstein’s portrayal of Einstein is the most raw and impressionistic. A sculptural impasto is created by the stark contrasts of light and dark on the surface, as well as the severely fractured surface, which shows every individual piece of clay in all its glory. According to Epstein, he wanted Einstein’s sense of humour, wild hair, and profound devotion to humanism to be captured in the bust. Epstein said of the bust, “it is the rough surface which gives both character and likeness to the face.” in a statement that encapsulates his ideas on portrait sculpture.

Oscar Wilde’s Tomb

1909-1912

A British architect named Charles Holden, a longtime admirer of Epstein’s work, commissioned him to design an Oscar Wilde mausoleum in 1908. Style-wise, the carvings resemble Assyrian monumental art since they depict a flying “demon-angel” in flight. A complicated message about Wilde’s sexuality might be found in this tomb, which was created at a period when Epstein was particularly interested in the sexual elements of Indian and Near Eastern art. He effectively depicts the tension between the curving rhythm of the rough surface and the massive bulk of the stone by following the principles of Direct Carving.

BULLET POINTED (SUMMARISED)

Best for Students and a Huge Time Saver

• In his sculptures, Jacob Epstein tried to capture the majesty of human existence while also expressing the majesty of the materials he used to make it.
• There was an inherent dignity in both the subject matter and the medium that Epstein etched it in for him.
• Epstein travelled to cities all across the globe during the start of the 20th century, from New York to Paris to London.
• An important figure in contemporary sculpture, Epstein believed that expressing human life and natural elements directly might lead to artworks that accurately depicted people and their surroundings.
• This made him both a contentious and important figure in the evolution of contemporary sculpture, all at the same time.Epstein believed that the act of creative production was inextricably connected to the sexual act.
• Conventional artists, critics, and collectors thought he was scandalous because of his open and realistic sexual imagery, but he stuck with it in works like Facade of the British Medical Association (1907-08) and Tomb of Oscar Wilde (1909-1912).When it came to subject matter and materials, Epstein was a pioneer because he looked outside the borders of Europe.
• It is said that he adopted the aesthetics of India, Africa, the Native American and the Pacific Islander civilizations, and took inspiration from them.
• As a means of expressing one’s life, Epstein believed that art must include all people.
• In works like Genesis, you can see his broad perspective on the world (1929).For many years, Epstein’s work has been cited as an essential example of Direct Carving, in which the subject is not first sketched or modelled in clay and then repeatedly carved in various materials until the artist is satisfied that they have successfully replicated their original model.
• As an alternative, the sculptor works directly on the selected material, hoping to find a way to spontaneously convey the picture that the artist thought already existing inside the substance in some previously unknown form.

Information Citations

En.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/.

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