JACOB EPSTEIN 1880–1959 "Kathleen Garman, his wife" H : 18 1/2 x W: 19 inches
 

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Biography:
Epstein, Sir Jacob  1880–1959, sculptor, b. New York City. He studied with Rodin in Paris and later worked chiefly in England.
In revolt against the ornate and the pretty in art, Epstein produced bold, often harsh and massive forms in stone or bronze that
were the subjects of frequent controversy. His 18 large figures on the British Medical Association Building (1907–8) were removed
in 1937 as offensive and structurally dangerous. Epstein's major pieces include the Oscar Wilde Memorial (1911; Père-Lachaise, Paris);
a marble Venus (1917; Yale Univ., New Haven, Conn.); a bronze Christ (1919; Wheathamstead, England); the “Rima” figure that
forms the W. H. Hudson Memorial (1925; Hyde Park, London); an enormous Adam in alabaster (1939; Blackpool, England);
figures for Fairmount Park, Philadelphia; and a Madonna and Child (Convent of the Holy Child Jesus, London).
Description:
...If the emphasis Epstein placed on naturalism, character and expression was a traditional one going back to Rodin, Donatello
and the great portraitists of the Ancient world - the Egyptians and Sumerians, the portraits themselves broke new ground.
During the 1920s most were not commissioned; they were friends, casual acquaintances and people stopped in the street and
asked if they were willing to come to the studio. Amongst them were many...American blacks, Africans, Indians, Asians and
people of mixed race - people who, if depicted at all, were treated as 'picturesque' or exotic."