Sir Jacob Epstein (British, 1880-1959)


Sir Winston Churchillbronze with a green patina on a marble base 30.4 cm. (12 in.) high (excluding the base)Conceived in 1946
|ProvenanceWith Obelisk Gallery, London, 1966ExhibitedLondon, Leicester Galleries, Landscapes by Ethelbert White and New Sculpture by Jacob Epstein, February-March 1947, cat.no.40 (another cast)London, Leicester Galleries, Fifty Years of Bronzes and Drawings by Sir Jacob Epstein, June-July 1960, cat.no.43 (another cast)London, The Arts Council, Epstein Memorial Exhibition, 1961, cat.no.53 (another cast)Edinburgh, Waverley Market, Epstein, organised by the Edinburgh Festival Society, 19 August-18 September1961, cat.no.127 (another cast)Rutherford, Fairleight Dickinson University, The Works of Sir Jacob Epstein From the Collection of Mr Edward P.Schinman, 1967 (ill.b&w, another cast)LiteratureJacob Epstein, Epstein: An Autobiography, Hulton, London, 1955, p.230 (ill.b&w, another cast)Richard Buckle, Jacob Epstein, Sculptor, Faber and Faber, London, 1963, p.302, pl.463 & 464 (ill.b&w, another cast)E.P. Schinman and B.A. Schinman (ed), Jacob Epstein, A Catalogue of the Collection of Edward P. Schinman, Farleight Dickinson University Press, 1970, p.52 (ill.b&w, another cast)Evelyn Silber, The Sculpture of Epstein, Phaidon, Oxford, 1986, p.198, cat.no.371 (ill.b&w, another cast)June Rose, Demons and Angels, A Life of Jacob Epstein, Carroll & Graf, New York, 2002, pp.130-131In November of 1946 Epstein was commissioned by the War Artists' Advisory Committee to sculpt the present work. He recollects:'The Ministry of Information were naturally eager for me to work from Churchill but the opportunity did not come up until after the war when he was living opposite me. He arrived at my studio complete with secretary, and a plain clothes man who planted himself at the door intending to remain on guard throughout the sitting. I offered this gentleman a chair whereupon Churchill abruptly dismissed him. Lighting his cigar, with his secretary seated behind me for dictation, we were all set for a fair start. After an hour this secretary was dismissed and a second appeared for further dictation to the accompaniment of a second cigar. After three somewhat restless sittings Churchill decided to stay at Chartwell where he gave me three further sittings.' (Jacob Epstein in Epstein, exh.cat, Edinburgh Festival Society, 1961, unnumbered).Please note that further casts are held in the collection of the Imperial War Museum, London, National Gallery of South Africa, Cape Town, Churchill College, Cambridge, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris and The Whitehouse, Washington D.C.