Jacob Epstein

Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 - 19 August 1959) was an American-born sculptor who worked chiefly in England, where he pioneered modern sculpture, often producing controversial works that challenged taboos concerning what public artworks appropriately depict.

Life

Epstein's parents were Polish refugees living in New York's Lower East Side. 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. Moving to Europe in 1902, he studied in Paris at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts, where Auguste Rodin taught him. He settled in London in 1905, and a few years later became a British Citizen.

Related Topics:
Refugee - New York - Lower East Side - Art Students League of New York - Bronze - Paris - Académie Julian - École des Beaux-Arts - Auguste Rodin - London - British

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Epstein lived in a long-term relationship with Kathleen Garman, whom he married sometime after their daughter's birth in 1926. Their daughter, also named Kathleen, married painter Lucian Freud in 1948 and is mother of two of his daughters.

Related Topics:
Kathleen Garman - 1926 - Kathleen - Lucian Freud - 1948

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Epstein was knighted in 1954.

Related Topics:
Knighted - 1954

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The Garman Ryan Collection, including several works by Epstein, was donated to the people of Walsall, England, by Lady Kathleen Garman, in 1973, and is on display in Walsall Art Gallery.

Related Topics:
Garman Ryan Collection - Walsall - England - Walsall Art Gallery

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