Demons and Angels: A Life of Jacob Epstein

by June Rose

“I feel that I can do the best, most profound things and life is short. How I wish I was living in an age when man wanted to raise temples to man or God or the Devil.” Jacob Epstein was thirty when he wrote these impassioned words. Now recognized as a seminal figure in the history of twentieth-century art, his powerful and often explicit sculptures, monumental in scale, were hailed as the work of a genius by a few contemporary figures such as Ezra Pound and Augustus John, but produced hostility and censoriousness from the art establishment. His is a true rags-to-riches story. Epstein was born in 1880 in the Jewish Ghetto of New York but emigrated to Europe to live a bohemian life, with a wife and several mistresses in a domestic menage. By the time of his death in 1959 he had met almost everybody of importance in the art world and many in political and other spheres. He endured public scandals caused by the nudity of his so-called Strand Statues (1907-1908; destroyed 1937) and the debauched-looking angel on his 1912 memorial for Oscar Wilde, but in 1946 he modeled the portrait of Sir Winston Churchill and was himself knighted in 1954. It is a comment on changing tastes that Epstein’s magnificent carving in alabaster, “Jacob and the Angel,” once refused by the Tate Gallery, now stands in the Central Sculpture Hall of Tate Britain. His sculpture, drawing, and other work are to be found in museums and art galleries all over the world. Daemons and Angels, the first biography in fifty years of this controversial sculptor, features black-and-white photographs throughout.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published June 10, 2002

About the author

June Rose spent five years exploring the private world of Dr Barnardo's, matching archive material with the memories of staff and children which is documented in her book For the Sake of the Children. Her first excursion into the charitable world, Changing Focus, was written to mark the centenary of the R.N.I.B. Since then her two acclaimed biographies, The Perfect Gentleman, the life of James Miranda Barry, a nineteenth-century woman doctor who masqueraded for forty years as a man, and Elizabeth Fry, the life of the Quaker prison reformer, reflect her concern with social questions.

Reviews

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A chronicle both intimate and worldly. This well-researched and respectful biography is the story of Epstein, a man of great physical and sexual power. A supremely talented sculptor and painter. His artistic impulses overran all his other interests, yet he needed family and lovers around him always. The author details how his partners and children paid the price for his artistic compulsions. Excoriated by the British "elite" in the early 20th century, post-World War II he was embraced by most of those who had previously expressed with such entitled gusto their anti-Semitism and artistic narrow-mindedness. A very readable work, with appropriate citations and a robust bibliography. The author is endeared to her subject, yet does not hesitate to provide the critical analysis of his work so valued by the reader.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to the life and work of the great sculptor.

[CD · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reader of this biography will find the story of a fairly 'typical' sculpture/artist of his era. Except that being an American, he went to England to become known and to work.

The title refers to the struggles that Epstein went through and the derision his work engendered among the public and experts of his time. By the end of his life, if not revered, Jacob Epstein was certainly honored.

Fascinating lifestyle tidbits about an older wife, younger mistresses and his children. Tragedy and triumph abound in this tale of the artistic lifestyle.

I first ran across Epstein in a photo of his 'Rock Drill' sculpture and the relationship of it to robots in the 'Star Wars' saga.

Some of his best work was destroyed in fits of pique by Victorian minded prudes. Today many of his finest works, unheralded and unsold in his lifetime, now occupy postions of honor and great visibility in public spaces and Museum such as the Tate in England.

A reasonably well written book that occasionally goes off on tangents or delves a bit too far into speculation of poorly documented periods of the subject life. Still a good story of the historical period and a satisfying and complete biography.