Sir Jacob Epstein 1880-1959

Waddington Galleries, London, whence purchased by the present owner, April 1969 (both works)

These drawings are studies for the large sculpture Genesis (Coll. Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester), carved by Epstein between 1929-1930, and plainly show the fusion of western and African themes that features in much of his sculptural output of the period. The expression of the elemental in motherhood was a theme which Epstein had treated in earlier works, such as Maternity (Coll. Leeds City Art Galleries) of 1910 and the Female Figure in Flenite (Coll. Tate Gallery, London) of 1913, and all these works are striking in their unconventional approach to the pregnant female form. Disregarding the traditional delicacy with which previous sculptors had approached the subject, Epstein’s keen, and somewhat unusual knowledge of African sculpture is clearly incorporated into the work. By the time he was working on Genesis, Epstein already owned a fine collection of several hundred pieces of ethnographic sculpture, and certain of these, particularly those from Nigeria, do seem to inform this sculpture. However, the execution is entirely western, a combination that caused consternation and ridicule amongst many of the critics. Certain critics, such as Geoffrey Grigson, were more impressed though, and thus echoed the sculptor’s own modest thoughts:

'She is serene and majestic, an elemental force of nature. How a figure like this contrasts with our coquetries and fanciful erotic nudes of modern sculpture. At one blow, whole generations of sculptors and sculpture are shattered and sent flying into the limbo of triviality, and my ‘Genesis’, with her fruitful womb, confronts our enfeebled generation. Within her man takes on new hope for the future' (Jacob Epstein, Let There be Sculpture, 1940, p.162).