Death location - Sir Jacob Epstein (10th November 1880 to 21st August 1959)

 

The most famous sculptors in Britain were Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. Both were influenced by Jacob Epstein who created hundreds of works over seven decades. Here I am outside his home in London where he died from a blood clot. His neighbour was Winston Churchill and its thought he proposed Jacob receive a knighthood.

 

Jacob born in New York and wanted to be a painter. With poor eyesight he decided to be a sculptor instead (perhaps he wouldn’t have become as rich and famous as a painter.) Leaving school he got a job in a bronze foundry and attended art college in the evenings. Aged 22 he was asked to draw the illustrations for a book and was paid enough money to be able to move to Paris where he studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. After three years of training he moved to London. He was pretty good - modelling his sculptures in clay and casting them in bronze - but his first important commission didn’t go well. He design eighteen figures for the offices of the British Medical Association in the Strand in London but they aroused furious controversy and there was a campaign to have them torn down (removed in 1937.)

 

He was famous for his series of portrait busts of eminent figures and over 60 years he was commissioned work. Success stemmed from his works seeming to be alive. His busts and faces seemed so expressive they seemed to be almost moving. He sought to and succeeded in expressing the power and grandeur of human life while also expressing the power of the materials he used. He made bold often harsh works distinguished by its vigorous realism (people like to run their hands over his faces.) Often the general public were shocked (he didn’t care) and condemned his work as obscene and disgraceful.

 

His private life was complicated. Despite being married to and continuing to live with Margaret Dunlop he had a number of relationships with other women that brought him his five children. His longest relationships was with Kathleen Garman (mother of his three middle children) which continued until his death. His wife tolerated Jacob’s infidelities to the point of allowing models and lovers to live in the family home. She even raised one of his illegitimate daughters. He wife didn’t like Kathleen Garman though and once shot her (was only in the shoulder so she didn’t die.)

 

Aged 78 he breathed his last bit of oxygen in this home which I'm stood outside. This quiet enclave sits off Hyde Park these houses sell for £20 - £24million each. I'd ventured down this cul-de-sac to find the house where Winston Churchill died. I've seen some of Jacob's busts and faces at an exhibition and they seemed fascinatingly ugly while being beautiful. I looked at the house and wondered if he'd died in one of the front bedrooms - blood clots deaths are fast so he could have been in any of those room. I did a salute and left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buried here...