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61Sir Jacob Epstein was well regarded for his portraiture
and the ability to capture in his sculptures, the
nuances of his sitters. Born in New York, Epstein
attended art classes at the Art Students League,
and eventually turned to sculpture as his eyesight
deteriorated. He attended night school in 1899
where he studied under George Grey Bernard. Later,
after two years at the École des Beaux‒Arts and the
Académie Julian in Paris, Epstein moved to London,
set up his own sculpture studio, and became a
British citizen in 1907. He was a founding member
of the London Group, an association of writers and
artists promoting modern art in England. During
this period, Epstein came into contact with leading
contemporary artists, including Picasso, Brancusi
and Modigliani and met leading figures from
around the world. As a result, he received many
commissions which included famous personalities,
such as Rabindranath Tagore, Albert Einstein,
Jawaharlal Nehru, and the Maharaja and Maharani
of Baroda, among others. The present lot is a cast
of Tagore from an edition of sixteen thought to
have been originally conceived in 1926. “Epstein
modelled Tagore’s head over life‒size with big, bold
strokes, so that the poet with his intense stare and
flowing beard took on the monumental grandeur of
a baroque apostle.” (R Buckle,
Jacob Epstein Sculptor
,
London: Faber & Faber, 1963 p. 149)
29
SIR JACOB EPSTEIN
(1880 ‒ 1959)
Rabindranath Tagore
Signed 'Epstein' (lower right)
1926
Bronze
Height: 20 in (50.5 cm)
Width: 13.5 in (34.6 cm)
Depth: 12 in (30.6 cm)
Rs 8,00,000 ‒ 10,00,000
$ 12,700 ‒ 15,875
Conceived in 1926 and cast in an edition of 16
PROVENANCE:
Christie's, London, 4 March 1988, lot 135
Private Collection, India
EXHIBITED:
Bronze Sculpture by Jacob Epstein
, Birmingham: Ruskin
Gallery, 1927, no. 1 (another cast)
Sculpture by Jacob Epstein
, New York: Ferargil Gallery,
1927, no. 19 (another cast)
Fifty Years of Bronzes and Drawings by Sir Jacob Epstein
(1880‒1959)
, London: Leicester Galleries, June ‒ July 1960,
no. 22 (another cast)
Jacob Epstein: Sculpture and Drawings
, Leeds: City Art
Galleries and London: Whitechapel Art Gallery, April ‒
September 1987, no. 91 (another cast)
PUBLISHED:
Arnold Haskell,
The Sculptor Speaks: Jacob Epstein to
Arnold Haskell: A Series of Conversations on Art
, London:
Heinemann, 1931, p. 185 (illustrated, another cast)
L B Powell,
Jacob Epstein
, London: Chapman & Hall,
1932 (illustrated, another cast)
Jacob Epstein,
Let There be Sculpture
, London: Michael
Joseph Ltd, 1940, pp. 111‒12 (illustrated, another cast)
R Black,
The Art of Jacob Epstein
, New York and
Cleveland: World Publishing Company, 1942, p. 236, no.
125 (illustrated, another cast)
Jacob Epstein,
Epstein: An Autobiography
, London:
Hulton Press, 1955, p. 92 (illustrated, another cast)
R Buckle,
Jacob Epstein
,
Sculptor
, London: Faber & Faber,
1963, pp. 146‒8, pl. 224‒5 (illustrated, another cast)
E P and B A Schinman eds.,
Jacob Epstein: A Catalogue
of the Collection of Edward P. Schinman
, Vancouver:
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1970, p. 37
(illustrated, another cast)
Evelyn Silber,
The Sculpture of Epstein
, Oxford: Phaidon,
1986, no. 172, p. 160 (illustrated, another cast)
Rabindranath Tagore (1861‒1941)
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