Tim Marlow TV - National Portrait Gallery online -
Epstein’s work was no stranger to controversy ... What he did was throw down a gauntlet that was pivotally picked up by younger British sculptors not least Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. The sculptural language of Moore and Hepworth was developed in the 20s and 30s through the use of direct carving. Tim Marlow on ... British Sculpture, 2011
One of the 20th century’s leading sculptors, Jacob Epstein placed portraiture at the centre of this work. This display explores his achievement and practice through busts of artists, writers, politicians and other leading figures selected from the National Portrait Gallery Collection. Epstein made portrait busts throughout his entire career. Modelled in clay and cast in bronze, these likenesses were rooted in observation but experimented with an expressive approach to form and texture to evoke the physical and psychological presence of the sitter. Ranging in date from 1916 to 1951, the works in the display include some of Epstein’s most celebrated portraits, notably his busts of Joseph Conrad, T S Eliot, Vaughan Williams and George Bernard Shaw. National Portrait Gallery online