Sir Jacob Epstein

Biographical Chronology

1880 Born of Russian-Polish parents in Hester Street, East Side, New

York.

1888-1900 Made many drawings of New York life and Jewish types, and

illustrated 'The Spirit of the Ghetto' by Hutchins Hapgood. Began

sculpture at night classes under George Grey Barnard.

1902 Hapgood's book published. Used the fees for the illustrations to

pay his fare to Paris. Studied first at the 'Ecole des Beaux Arts' and

then at, Julian's.

1905 Moved to London. Took a studio at 219 Stanhope Street, Camden

Town. Visited New York, but returned at once and took a studio at

Fulham.

1907 Commissioned to carve 18 figures for the British Medical Association's

building in Agar Street, Strand, London. Moved to Cheyne Walk.

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1908 Acute controversy in the press about the carvings for the BMA

building. Received his first portrait commissions.

1911 Commissioned to carve the tomb of Oscar Wilde for the Pere

Lachaise cemetery, Paris.

1912-13 In Paris for the erection of the Wilde Tomb. Met Picasso,

Brancusi, Modigliani and Paul Guillaume. Returned to England and

settled at Pett Level, near Hastings, where he carved 'Venus', three

groups of birds, three flenite carvings, the marble 'Mother and Child'

and 'Cursed be the Day Wherein I was Born'.

1913 Original member of the London Group, where 'Rock Drill' (in

plaster) was first exhibited. First one-man show at the Twenty One

Gallery, Adelphi, London.

1917 'Venus' exhibited at the first Leicester Galleries exhibition.

1919 'Christ', begun in 1917, completed.

1925 'Rima', the memorial to W. H. Hudson, begun in Epping Forest in

1924, completed and unveiled in Hyde Park.

1926 'The Visitation' executed in Epping Forest.

1927 'Madonna and Child', begun in 1926 in London, completed. Visited

America, where he executed three portraits. One-man show in New

York.

1928-29 'Day' and 'Night' carvings for the new Underground Headquarters

building, 55 Broadway, Westminster.

1930-31 Made a series of drawings for the Old Testament.

1931 'Genesis', begun in 1929, completed.

1933 Painted a series of watercolours of Epping Forest. This was followed

by a series of flower paintings.

1935 The carving 'Behold the Man' first exhibited. The Southern

Rhodesian Government acquired the British Medical Association's building

and announced that the statues were to be removed. Further protests

in the press secured their reprieve. Sickert resigned from the Royal

Academy because the President refused to sign a petition against their

removal.

1937 Owing to partial decay of stonework, the statues were mutilated.

'Consummatum Est' completed and exhibited.

1938 Made a series of drawings for Baudelaire's 'Les Fleurs du Mai'.

1939 'Adam', begun in 1938, completed.

1941 'Jacob and the Angel'.

1943 'Girl with the Gardenias'.

1945 'Lucifer'.

1949 'Lazarus'.

1951 'Youth Advances' (now in Manchester City Art Gallery) commissioned

in 1950 by the Arts Council for the Festival of Britain 1951,

exhibited at the South Bank Exhibition. 'Madonna and Child' begun

for a site on the north side of Cavendish Square, London, owned by the

Convent of the Holy Child Jesus.

1955 'Social Consciousness', Fairmont Park, Philadelphia.

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1956 'Bishop Woods Memorial', Litchfield Cathedral. 'Field Marshal

Smith', Parliament Square, Westminster.

1957 'Lewis Building', Liverpool, an overlife size figure and 13 bas relief

panels. 'Blake Memorial', Westminster Abbey.

1957-8 'St Michael and the Angel'.

1958-9 'Bowater House Group'. Five figures in bronze.

Died London, 1959.