Jacob Epstein's Day on St James' Park Station © Debbie Challis, 2014. His designs are recorded in a unique sketchbook which is kept in the Henry Moore Institute Archive in Leeds. [11] References [ edit ]

", https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=Petition_against_Jacob_Epstein%27s_Rima&oldid=50325, About The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia.

This modern art sculpture caused a great controversy regarding its nudity. Rima is a wild thing among the wild birds; and Epstein created her stark naked like Botticelli’s Venus because, as Botticelli remarked (in the play Poor Little Nelly Machiavelli) “it increases her pathos, poor dear”. View Map, Follow the gallery’s education profile on Pinterest, leave our mailing list you can do that here.

The sculpture Hygeia was directly influenced by Greek sculpture in the British Museum. Petition against Jacob Epstein's Rima In 1925, "Rima", a bas-relief carved by Sir Jacob Epstein was installed in Hyde's Park, London.

In 1922, Epstein was asked to create a memorial sculpture for the popular writer W.H. Jacob Epstein, Rima, 1925 © Robert Eagle, 2013. Many of Epstein's works were sculpted at his two cottages in Loughton, Essex, where he lived first at number 49 then 50, Baldwin's Hill (there is a blue plaque on number 50).

Rima was the subject of hostility from those opposed to what they viewed as his 'ugly' and 'unfeminine' portrayal of the female body. In his autobiography "Let There Be Sculpture" (1940), Jacob Epstein himself described the controversy in his book, and especially the petition: A letter demanding the removal of the memorial with as little delay as possible appeared in the Morning Post [november 1924], signed by a number of noted persons, including Lady Frances Balfour, Hilaire Belloc, E. F. Benson, the Hon. He helped to establish the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and campaigned for wild areas in parks, at a time when they were always neat and tidy. Jacob Epstein, Rima, 1925. Epstein was shaken by the vehemence of the campaigns against his work, but other artists supported him - including Eric Grill, Walter Crane and the Director of the National Gallery Charles Holroyd. Epstein also became heavily involved in The London Group, a cutting edge group of artists, and visited artists, such as Modigliani, in Paris.

Epstein was born on 10 November 1880 in New York, of Polish-Jewish parentage. Epstein commented that he always turned to Egypt for inspiration for architectural or monumental sculpture and the influence of Egypt and other cultures is clear in these abstract figures. Described as a frenzied out pouring of ideas, the sketchbook is unparalleled in Epstein’s career. Night and Day are still on 55 Broadway, along with reliefs of the winds by Eric Gill, Allan G. Wyon, Alfred Gerrod, Eric Aumonier, Samuel Rabinovitch and Henry Moore, making it an important modernist building in London. Though it appears inoffensive to twenty-first century eyes, the relief panel was subject to intensely heated and bitter debate, the likes of which the art-world had never before seen (and is unlikely to witness again). This modern art sculpture caused a great controversy regarding its nudity. Egyptologist Flinders Petrie protested about the style of the sculptures, denouncing them as 'part of the modern system of Jazz' and racialising them as a 'primitive product of a race'. Epstein’s Rima ‘A Travesty of Nature’ Displaying a selection of Jacob Epstein’s preparatory drawings for the W.H.

A media campaign followed that saw the Morning Post describe Rima – or "the Hyde Park Atrocity" as it was quickly dubbed – as “Mr Epstein’s nightmare in stone”, and the sculptor as “the most famous example of a great sculptor who has sold his soul to the devil”. There were also supporters of Rima; a public letter of support for Epstein was sent from Muirhead Bone at the Burlington Fine Arts Club and was also signed by George Bernard Shaw, Michael Sadler, Glyn Philpot, Samuel Courtauld, Laurence Binyon, Frank Dobson, Ramsay Macdonald, and W. Rothenstein. Moving to Europe in 1902, he studied in Paris at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts.

Much of the opposition to Rima as a piece of artwork went hand-in-hand with racist formulations of Epstein as an 'alien' outsider and his artwork as unEnglish.

Jacob Epstein's Rima (1925) In 1922 Jacob Epstein was commissioned to create the Hyde Park memorial to the naturalist writer W.H.

His collection included over a thousand objects, primarily west African, 'Oceanic', precolumbian American, and ancient Egyptian. Epstein's colossal Day and Night (1929) statues are on 55 Broadway Building, over St James' station. It is a 15 minute walk from here to what remains of his first public commission on the Strand. In 1925, "Rima", a bas-relief carved by Sir Jacob Epstein was installed in Hyde's Park, London.

Frank Pick, the Managing Director of the UERL, robustly defended Epstein's sculptures.

The … Rima highlights Epstein's thoughts on humanity, sexuality, and gender as well as his ideas on how the concept of 'beauty' was subjective and often restrictive.

Despite having a number of supporters, Epstein's work was often criticised by the public and the media; often this opposition was antisemitic and nationalist.

Hudson Memorial (1925), Hyde Park, London, this exhibition provides a rare opportunity to explore Epstein’s creative imagination, as well as delving …

In 1922 Jacob Epstein was commissioned to create the Hyde Park memorial to the naturalist writer W.H.

The memorial was unveiled to the public in 1925; carved in Portland Stone the relief represented Rima, a character from Hudson's book Green Mansions who was both human and bird. Start at the British Museum for some context to Epstein's work; particularly in the African, Greek and Ancient Egyptian galleries. Hudson. Image credit: Jacob Epstein, Sketch of Rima (1923), Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds Art Gallery), The New Art Gallery Walsall Hudson. His sculpture was defaced and the Daily Mail campaigned for the removal of the sculpture. In 1905 Jacob Epstein moved to London from Paris and immersed himself in the British Museum where he was influenced by the variety of sculptural styles.

In 1907 Epstein received a prestigious commission to execute and design a series of sculptures by the architect Charles Holden for his British Medical Association (BMA) building on 429 Strand. In 1908 people were flocking to look at the sculpture, there was a media frenzy around the figures and the police even visited Epstein at work due to complaint of obscenity.

Arthur Conan Doyle signed a petition with other noted persons to remove this "artistic anarchy.".

He settled in London in 1905 and married Margaret Dunlop in 1906.

It would be a reproach to all concerned if future generations were allowed to imagine that this piece of artistic anarchy in any way reflected the true spirit of the age.