Jacob Epstein on Art and Sculpture

Jacob Epstein: Self-Evaluation

" It is naturally difficult to assess one's place in the period one lives in - perhaps it is impossible. "

" My outstanding merit in my own eyes is that I believe myself to be a return in sculpture to the human outlook, without in any way sinking back into the flabby sentimentalizing, or the merely decorative, that went before. "

Jacob Epstein: Carving vs Modeling

" As I see sculpture it must not be rigid. It must quiver with life, while carving often leads a man to neglect the flow and rhythm of life. "

" Twenty years ago I would have simplified the hair of the child into what critics call 'true sculptural form', while today I find a rhythm in the hair of each individual head that I must capture. "

Source
Goldwater, R & Treves, M. 1976. Artists on Art, From the 14th to the 20th Century . John Murray.

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