Jacob Epstein 1880-1959
Lydia, 1931
Bronze
19 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 10 1/4 in
49.7 x 44.4 x 26 cm
49.7 x 44.4 x 26 cm
Lydia, a jazz singer and/or dancer, was working as a waitress at Epstein’s favourite Chinese restaurant in London’s Wardour Street when they met. Epstein made three busts of her between...
Lydia, a jazz singer and/or dancer, was working as a waitress at Epstein’s favourite Chinese restaurant in London’s Wardour Street when they met. Epstein made three busts of her between 1929 and 1934: the first, head-and-shoulders portrait in bronze with a green patina (1929-30), in which Lydia has bobbed hair; this second, bronze head-and-shoulders portrait (1931) with short hair; and a third bronze (head only) entitled 'Lydia laughing' (1934), with bobbed hair. This version was exhibited in Epstein's solo exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in 1933.
Provenance
Bequest of Ethel Solomon 1985Exhibitions
2024: US: From There to Here - Britain's Gain, Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, London, 17 April - 14 June2024: The Decorative Fair, Evolution London, Battersea Park, London, 23 - 28 January
2021: Becoming Gustav Metzger: Uncovering the Early Years, 1945-59, Ben Uri Gallery & Museum, London, 16 June - 17 September
2019: Mark Gertler: Paintings from the Luke Gertler Bequest & Selected Important UK Collections, Ben Uri Gallery, London, 30 October - 13 December
2017-18: The Poetry of the Real, Beaux Arts Gallery, London, 22 November - 10 March
2016: Unexpected: Continuing Narratives of Identity and Migration, Ben Uri Gallery, London, 17 February - 24 April
2010: Apocalypse: Unveiling a Lost Masterpiece by Marc Chagall and 50 Selected Masterworks from the Ben Uri Collection, Osborne Samuel, London, 8 - 31 January
2009: Dora Gordine: Sculptor, Artist, Designer Exhibition, Dorich House Museum, Kingston University, London, 11 February - 2 May
2009: Homeless & Hidden 1: World Class Collection Homeless & Hidden, Ben Uri Gallery, London, 29 January - 24 February
2006: Embracing the Exotic: Jacob Epstein & Dora Gordine, Ben Uri Gallery - The London Jewish Museum of Art, London, 10 January - 19 March
2004: The Modern and the New: An Examination of the Permanent Collection alongside New Works by Invited British, European and American Jewish Artists, Ben Uri Gallery - The London Jewish Museum of Art, London, 4 April - 23 May
1959: Sir Jacob Epstein: Exhibition of Bronzes, Ben Uri Art Gallery, London, 25 November - 22 December
1956: Fortieth Anniversary Exhibition: Selected Works by Artists Exhibited over the Past Forty Years, Ben Uri Art Gallery, London, 19 June - 24 July
1945: Autumn Exhibition of Paintings, Sculptures and Drawings by Contemporary Jewish Artists, Ben Uri Art Gallery, London, 4 September - 19 October
1933: Carvings and Bronzes by Jacob Epstein, Leicester Galleries, London, May - June
Literature
Arnold Haskell and Jacob Epstein, The Sculptor Speaks - Jacob Epstein to Arnold L. Haskell a series of conversations on art (London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1931), p. 191;Carvings and Bronzes by Jacob Epstein, May, 1933, Leicester Galleries, London (exhibition catalogue);
Robert Black, The Art of Jacob Epstein (New York: World Publishing Company, 1942 p. 238;
Autumn Exhibition of Paintings, Sculptures and Drawings by Contemporary Jewish Artists, Ben Uri Art Gallery, 1945, cat. no. 78A (exhibition catalogue);
Fortieth Anniversary Exhibition: Selected Works by Artists Exhibited over the Past Forty Years, Ben Uri Art Gallery, 1956, cat. no. 27 (exhibition catalogue);
Sir Jacob Epstein 1880–1959: Exhibition of Bronzes, Ben Uri Art Gallery, 1959, cat. no. 14 (exhibition catalogue);
Richard Buckle, Jacob Epstein: Sculptor (London: Faber and Faber, 1963), p. 183, pl. 276;
Evelyn Silber, The Sculpture of Epstein, with a complete catalogue (Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1986), pp. 42 and 169, cat 209, illus.;
Walter Schwab and Julia Weiner, eds., Jewish Artists: the Ben Uri Collection - Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture (London: Ben Uri Art Society in association with Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 1994), p. 38;
Sarah MacDougall and Rachel Dickson, Embracing the Exotic: Jacob Epstein and Dora Gordine (London: Ben Uri Gallery/Papadakis Publishing, 2006), pp. 10, 12 & 62, cat. no. 22, illus., p. 10 (exhibition catalogue);
Jonathan Black, Dora Gordine: Sculptor, Artist, Designer (London: Philip Wilson Publishers, 2008), p. 76, illus., fig. 17.