Metadata : Letters from Jacob Epstein to Peggy Jean and Norman Hornstein
Collection
- Country:
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Holding institution:
- Tate Archive
- Holding institution (official language):
- Tate Archive
- Postal address:
- Tate BritainMillbankLondonUnited KingdomSW1P 4RG
- Web address:
- https://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive
- Country:
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Holding institution:
- Tate Archive
- Holding institution (official language):
- Tate Archive
- Postal address:
- Tate BritainMillbankLondonUnited KingdomSW1P 4RG
- Web address:
- https://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive
- Reference number:
- TGA 993
- Title:
- Letters from Jacob Epstein to Peggy Jean and Norman Hornstein
- Title (official language):
- Letters from Jacob Epstein to Peggy Jean and Norman Hornstein
- Creator/accumulator:
- Epstein, Jacob
- Date(s):
- 1953/1959
- Language:
- English
- Extent:
- 1 box
- Scope and content:
- Eleven letters from Jacob Epstein to his daughter, Peggy Jean and two letters to her first husband, Norman Hornstein. The letters include details of the progress of Epstein's work; new commissions, exhibitions and sales; his thoughts on art and the art world; his health, travels and daily life; and news of family and friends. While some of the letters to Peggy Jean, in particular the earlier ones, relate principally to her marital and financial difficulties, others give detailed descriptions of the progress of his work and the methods he is using. A number of newspaper cuttings and a photograph are enclosed with the letters.
- Archival history:
- Jacob Epstein sent the letters to Peggy Jean and Norman Hornstein, and they remained in Peggy Jean's possession until they were acquired by Tate.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Jacob Epstein was born on New York's Lower East Side in 1880, to Polish Jewish immigrant parents. He studied there at the Arts Students' League from the age of thirteen. In 1902 he left to study sculpture in Paris before moving to London in 1905 and taking British citizenship a few years later. In 1907-8 Epstein was commissioned to produce the eighteen naturalistic figures carved into the façade of the British Medical Association Building on the Strand. The "immorality" of these figures caused outrage and Epstein became a household name. Epstein's career was dogged with controversy. In 1911-12 he worked with his friend Eric Gill to carve Oscar Wilde's tomb in Paris, which was also unpopular. However, whilst in Paris he developed friendships with Brancusi and Modigliani. His exhibition of 'Rock Drill' at the London Group show of 1915 shocked both critics and the public with its blatant sexual point and cruel and futuristic theme. Between 1907 and 1915 Epstein produced bronze portraits of infants and small children, large scale commissions and stone and marble works. He was the first sculptor to take up Gill's advocacy of the direct carving of stone and to talk about truth to materials. His drawings of children show him as one of the most robust draughtsmen of the period, and he had begun to collect African and Oceanic artifacts. Epstein joined up during the First World War, but his work after showed little response to his experiences. After the war comparatively few public commissions came his way, although his notoriety and harassment at the hands of the popular press in no way diminished. His most successful piece at this time was 'Rima', his memorial to W.H. Hudson in Hyde Park in 1925. Other large-scale pieces at this time include 'Jacob and the Angel', 'Lazarus', 'Adam' and 'Ecce Homo'. Epstein's personal life was as controversial as his artistic one. His first wife was Margaret Dunlop who was ten years his senior. In 1918 his eldest daughter Peggy-Jean was born to one of Epstein's models Meum, although she was brought up by Margaret. In 1921 Epstein met Kathleen Garman who became his long-standing mistress and mother to three of his children. After Margaret's death in 1947, Kathleen moved in with Epstein, although they did not marry until 1955. Epstein received an honorary degree from Oxford, and in 1954 he was knighted. The 1950s also brought some important public commissions, including 'Jan Smuts' in Parliament Square and 'Social Consciousness' in Philadelphia. In 1955 he got a chance to carve a summation on his views on war when he accepted a commission from the Trades Union Council to create a war memorial. During 1958 Epstein was confined to hospital suffering from thrombosis and pleurisy. He lived for another year, working on an array of portraits and the 'Bowater House Group' bronze, at Edinburgh Gate, London, commissioned by Sir Harold Samuel. Jacob Epstein died in August 1959.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Epstein, Jacob
- Hornstein, Norman
- Hornstein, Peggy Jean
- Subject terms:
- Art
- Art--Artists
- Correspondence
- Access, restrictions:
- Open
- Finding aids:
-
Online catalogue.
Some items from the collection have been digitised.
- Yerusha Network member:
- AIM25
- Reference number:
- TGA 993
- Title:
- Letters from Jacob Epstein to Peggy Jean and Norman Hornstein
- Title (official language):
- Letters from Jacob Epstein to Peggy Jean and Norman Hornstein
- Creator/accumulator:
- Epstein, Jacob
- Date(s):
- 1953/1959
- Language:
- English
- Extent:
- 1 box
- Scope and content:
- Eleven letters from Jacob Epstein to his daughter, Peggy Jean and two letters to her first husband, Norman Hornstein. The letters include details of the progress of Epstein's work; new commissions, exhibitions and sales; his thoughts on art and the art world; his health, travels and daily life; and news of family and friends. While some of the letters to Peggy Jean, in particular the earlier ones, relate principally to her marital and financial difficulties, others give detailed descriptions of the progress of his work and the methods he is using. A number of newspaper cuttings and a photograph are enclosed with the letters.
- Archival history:
- Jacob Epstein sent the letters to Peggy Jean and Norman Hornstein, and they remained in Peggy Jean's possession until they were acquired by Tate.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Jacob Epstein was born on New York's Lower East Side in 1880, to Polish Jewish immigrant parents. He studied there at the Arts Students' League from the age of thirteen. In 1902 he left to study sculpture in Paris before moving to London in 1905 and taking British citizenship a few years later. In 1907-8 Epstein was commissioned to produce the eighteen naturalistic figures carved into the façade of the British Medical Association Building on the Strand. The "immorality" of these figures caused outrage and Epstein became a household name. Epstein's career was dogged with controversy. In 1911-12 he worked with his friend Eric Gill to carve Oscar Wilde's tomb in Paris, which was also unpopular. However, whilst in Paris he developed friendships with Brancusi and Modigliani. His exhibition of 'Rock Drill' at the London Group show of 1915 shocked both critics and the public with its blatant sexual point and cruel and futuristic theme. Between 1907 and 1915 Epstein produced bronze portraits of infants and small children, large scale commissions and stone and marble works. He was the first sculptor to take up Gill's advocacy of the direct carving of stone and to talk about truth to materials. His drawings of children show him as one of the most robust draughtsmen of the period, and he had begun to collect African and Oceanic artifacts. Epstein joined up during the First World War, but his work after showed little response to his experiences. After the war comparatively few public commissions came his way, although his notoriety and harassment at the hands of the popular press in no way diminished. His most successful piece at this time was 'Rima', his memorial to W.H. Hudson in Hyde Park in 1925. Other large-scale pieces at this time include 'Jacob and the Angel', 'Lazarus', 'Adam' and 'Ecce Homo'. Epstein's personal life was as controversial as his artistic one. His first wife was Margaret Dunlop who was ten years his senior. In 1918 his eldest daughter Peggy-Jean was born to one of Epstein's models Meum, although she was brought up by Margaret. In 1921 Epstein met Kathleen Garman who became his long-standing mistress and mother to three of his children. After Margaret's death in 1947, Kathleen moved in with Epstein, although they did not marry until 1955. Epstein received an honorary degree from Oxford, and in 1954 he was knighted. The 1950s also brought some important public commissions, including 'Jan Smuts' in Parliament Square and 'Social Consciousness' in Philadelphia. In 1955 he got a chance to carve a summation on his views on war when he accepted a commission from the Trades Union Council to create a war memorial. During 1958 Epstein was confined to hospital suffering from thrombosis and pleurisy. He lived for another year, working on an array of portraits and the 'Bowater House Group' bronze, at Edinburgh Gate, London, commissioned by Sir Harold Samuel. Jacob Epstein died in August 1959.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Epstein, Jacob
- Hornstein, Norman
- Hornstein, Peggy Jean
- Subject terms:
- Art
- Art--Artists
- Correspondence
- Access, restrictions:
- Open
- Finding aids:
-
Online catalogue.
Some items from the collection have been digitised.
- Yerusha Network member:
- AIM25
