JACOB EPSTEIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 17, 21 January 1933, Page 1 (Supplement)

JACOB EPSTEIN.

SCULPTOR AND DRAUGHTSMAN

the artist at home

(By A. E. D. FAIRBURN.)

Jacob Epstein should have some 'slight interest for New Zeala,nders, over and above that occasioned by hie frequent mention in print. It was those early carvings of his on the building in the Strand bought by the New Zealand Government (owned previously by the British Medical Association) wliich first drew the attention of those vultures, the gossip-writers, and made him a figure of public interest. It is a tribute to him that his newe-value is still good, and that he has maintained his position as a popular coconut-shy; for his work is by no means the most "modern" (whatever, exactly, that may mean) that has been done in recent years. If the huntsmen of Philistia had been looking for a quarry, half a dozen other men would have provided them with better sport. I have been told that a great deal of the spectacular abuse heaped on Epstein (the tarring and feathering of ",Rima," for instance) has been merely shrewd publicity, organised by certain of his friends. He himself is too single-minded and intent on his work to be in the least interested in such matters. But he has many.friends —and some of them are wags. This is only gossip, and need not be taken too seriously. It is true, however, that in order to achieve artistic fame to-day more than mere ability, er even genius, is necessary. Many, even of the most respectable, reputations have been established by the same means as are commonly employed in creating markets for trade products. It is not sufficient that a razor blade should be sharper and more durable than its rivals. People must be told about it in novel and spectacular ways, so that, ideally speaking, its name shall be found graven on their hearts when they die. v

Epstein at Home. Mr. R. B. Cunninghame-Graham, whom I mentioned in a recent article, took me round one afternoon, to meet Epstein. The two have long been intimate, and one of the sculptor's finest pieces is a bust of his friend. Epstein is a most unaffected man, with a great natural vigour and masculinity, and a force of character which is obvious even at a first meeting, reminding one of certain pictures of Beethoven. He received „us in his shirt sleeves, without a collar. Though he is not in the least selfcentred, and has no more than the reasonable pride of the artist, it was obvious from the conversation that his only interest in life is his'work. Being a man of courage and originality, he has had his failures. But anyone less resembling a charlatan I can hardly imagine. His talk was simple and direct, and quite un-self-conscious —not in the least "impressive." J -le took us into his studio and showed us some of the things on which he was then working, including a big carving cr a woman, gross and powerful, with an air of brutish inscrutability as of some primitive Mona Lisa. "Gea, the EarthMother, 1 " I thought as soon as I set eyes on it; and Epstein told us he meant to call it, "As it was in the Beginning." This' is the work which created a newspaper sensation under the name of "Genesis." "Rima." As .we left, Mr. Cunninghame-Graham asked me if I had.seen "Bima," Epstein's much discussed carving for the Hudson Memorial in Hyde Park. I had not, so he directed the taxi in that direction, and told me a littlo of its history on the way. He knew W. H. Hudson very well, of course, and was a member of the committee set up to deal with the memorial. With Edward Garnett, he was responsible for the commissioning of Epstein; the other 1 members were at first opposed to it, but gave in eventually, after one or two of them had withdrawn. Mr. Cunninghame-Graham was instrumental, too, in having the memorial placed in Hyde Park. He had a particular reason: "Many were the nights Hudson, without a crust or a halfpenny, slept in. the same Park." The carving is not one of Epstein's best works, but it is quite adequate and fitting to its subject. It is so quiet and unobtrusive that I' find it hard to account for the indignation it seems to have aroused.

His Work in General. In eating fish, one picks out the hones. So, in considering such a man as Epstein, it is necessary to cut away the popular clamour from the genuine comment and criticism. And one finds, after the mockery and the violent abuse and the tar-and-feathers have been duly accounted for, that there is fairly common agreement among artists and responsible critics to-day as to the value of Epstein's work, and his statue as an artist. Even among the monumental masons of the Royal Academy, very little sheerly destructive criticism is heard nowadays. Epstein has never been completely successful as a carver, though much of his glyptic work is very fine. He himself maintains that there is no. essential difference between carving and modelling, but few will be found to agree with him, or to disagree about the relative value of his work in these two directions. It is in his portrait busts that his reputation is so securely founded. They are superb, and will bear comparison with the greatest masterpieces of the past. They have an emotional unity, compounded with originality and vigour. They are full of character, without conceding anything to mere representation, and have a poise, and a 'formal beauty, which stamp them as great art; There is in them none of the dead form of so many other contemporary works.

While in London I saw the recent exhibition' of Biblical drawings by Epstein at the Redfern Gallery. There was a tremendous number of them, and on the -whole they appeared to be rather # too hastily done to be really first-class. Not that all good work is • necessarily the outcome of grinding toil. These drawings are interesting, as sculptors' drawings always are. They were very direct, and formally suggestive."» But they looked more like working sketches than finished pieces, and had decorative charm rather than solid worth. However, they were by Epstein—which meant that, good or bad, their honesty and vitality made them worth looking at. For Epstein has never flagged, and has compromised nowhere. By force of character and a rigid sincerity he has made his genius flower —though the path leading to his present position lias becn-very-thicklysbestrevrii.-witli-tliorns.