THE HUDSON MEMORIAL

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 110, 5 November 1925, Page 7

THE HUDSON MEMORIAL

EPSTEIN DEFENDS HIS PANEL

TEAFALGAR SQTJAEE A CHAOS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 10th Sept,

The storm of protest raised over Mr. Epstein's design for Bima_ in the' Hudson Memorial in Hyde * Park, which has been an object of intense interest to Londoners ever since, has brought from the sculptor himself a characteristically virile reply, accompanied by some sarcastic comments on London statues generally. . "The agitation about the Hudson Memorial," he declares, in an interview published in this week's "Teachers' World," "was a Press cable. It just rose to a froth of stupid abuse such as I have never experienced before. What I did not like was the personal animosity; I was attacked by people who seemed to think I was a German with Bolshevik tendencies. There was no question of looking at my work fairly. Of course, I did not trouble to answer such silliness. _ "My memorial to Hudson was, after ;iil, defended by artists of importance like Muirhead Bone, the < otcher, and Cunningham Urahame, Uio writer, and others like Sir John .Lavcry, who proposed me for election in the Academy. Of course, the Academy meant nothing to me, but all the samo it was a gesture on the part i uf La very, and as such it was generj ous and line. WORST SQUARE IN THE WORLD. "I started with the conception of Rinia as a half-wind creature living in the woods, with birds and animals. Then I had to think how to got this poetic idea expressed within the limitation^ of my material, the stone, the size of the panel, the shape, and the architectural surroundings. I had to make a decorative thing which would represent movement, flight. It is entirely a plastic idea, you see. I wishxu to have the whole thing moving, in stone. It would have been absurd to come to my job with any idea of ilInstrating the book." Discussing London slatues, Mr. Epstein agreed that there were hardly any good ones. "Look at that fearful concoction in front of Buckingham Palace. You have seen it? Of course, it is big enough to see; one cannot avoid seeing it. And look at Trafalgar Square—what an unholy n pss! It is about tho. worst square ir the world. Think of Hint silly column in " the middle carrying a puny little figure of Nelson, which is out of all proportion, and cannot bo seen. 15ut the whole square is a chaos."

lie mnde an exception, however, of the statue of General Gordon, which he described as "a good, sober piece of work." , 85, Fleet Street.