Epstein, Jacob |
SCULPTOR (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) |
BORN 10 Nov 1880, New York City, New York - DIED 21 Aug 1959, London: Kensington GRAVE LOCATION London: Putney Vale, Stag Lane |
Jacob Epstein was the son of Polish Jewish refugees who lived in New York's Lower East Side. As a child he was often ill and he developed an interest in drawing. He studied drawing and scupting at night in New York and worked in a bronze foundry during the days. He illustrated "Spirit of the Ghetto" by Hutchins Hapgood and used to money to move Paris in 1902. There he studied at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1905 he settled in London. He married Margaret Dunlop and became a British citizen in 1907. He mostly worked in a cottage in Essex. In 1912 he finished the famous tomb for Oscar Wilde at Père Lachaise that he had started in 1909. During the First World War he served briefly in the army. He had several relations with other women that were tolerated by Margaret and from these relationships five children were born. When he started a relationship with Kathleen Garman in 1921 Margaret had had enough. In 1923 she shot at Kathleen and wounded her in the sholder. The relationship with Kathleen continued and she bore him three children. Kitty (b.1926) married Lucian Freud in 1948 and had two daughters with him (they divorced in 1953). Margeret died in 1947. After he was knighted in 1954 he married Kathleen in 1955. He died in 1959 in London, working until the very last day. Lady Epstein donated the Garman Ryan Collection with included several of his works to the people of Walsall in 1973. Work: "The Archangel Lucifer" (1944-1945, Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery). Related persons made a sculpture of Casati, Luisa, Marchesa designed grave monument of Wilde, Oscar Events |
19/7/1909 | Oscar Wilde's remains are transferred to Père Lachaise in Paris. He had been buried for nine years at Bagneaux cemetery. Among those present were Robert Ross, Vyvyan Holland and Coleridge Kennard whose mother had anonymously given money for Wilde's tomb. [Wilde, Oscar] |
Sources Culbertson, Judi & Tom Randall, Permanent Parisians, Robson Books, London, 1991 Meller, Hugh, London Cemeteries, An illustrated Guide and Gazetteer, Avebury Publishing, Amersham, 1981 Jacob Epstein - Wikipedia |