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Lady Gregory
Lady Gregory

Lady Gregory

Artist (1880 - 1959)
Date1910
MediumBronze
Dimensions36 x 35 x 28 cm
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Lane Gift, 1912. © The Estate of Jacob Epstein.
Object number98
DescriptionBorn in New York to Russian-Polish parents, Epstein initially studied drawing and gained an insight into casting processes while working at a bronze foundry. He was invited to illustrate a book about life on the Lower East Side of New York. The proceeds from this commission enabled him to travel to Paris in 1902 where he attended the École des Beaux Arts and the Acadèmie Julian. Such a traditional artistic grounding belies the notoriety that would attend the majority of Epstein's public commissions throughout his lifetime. Visits to the Louvre exposed Epstein to non-Western and antique sculpture and both expressive and naturalistic styles were to be hallmarks of his work. In 1905 he settled in London and became a successful portrait sculptor making busts of many leading figures of the day.

Lady Gregory (1852-1932) was a central figure in the Irish Celtic Revival and was closely associated with the Abbey Theatre. She herself penned several plays drawn from Irish themes. Hugh Lane commissioned Epstein to make this striking portrait bust of his aunt and while Lady Gregory's strength of character is captured, neither she nor Lane were entirely pleased with what they regarded as an excessively forthright result. However, Lady Gregory subsequently came to appreciate what she considered to be the work's energy.

Epstein trained as a sculptor in New York and Paris before settling in Britain in 1905. While working on Oscar Wilde's Tombe in Paris, (1910-11), he came into contact with Modigliani and Brancusi and in London he was associated with members of the New English Art Club and the vorticist Movement. In contrast to his carved sculptures and monuments which met with much criticism, his modelled portrait busts and heads which are generally characterised by a rough-textured expressionism, were very favourably received. Lady Gregory, commissioned by Epstein by Hugh Lane, is one of the sculptor's earliest busts and dates from his formative years as a sculptor. Lady Gegory, the aunt of Hugh Lane and one of the most important figures in the Celtic Revival movement was deeply involved with the Abbey Theatre from its foundation in 1904.
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