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Description: | Artist Jacob Epstein poses with his sculpture 'Night'. The sculpture is on northeast facade of 55 Broadway, the new headquarters of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited (U.E.R.L.) and, later, London Transport. This revolutionary building, designed by Charles Holden, opened in 1929 and was the tallest in London when it was built. It was awarded the London Architectural Medal.
Jacob Epstein was an American sculptor who lived most of his life in Britain. He was identified by Frank Pick as a raw genius who took inspiration from early civilizations: Egypt, Asia, Central America and especially sub-Saharan Africa. He was seen by contemporary artists as a trail-blazer.
He was given a free hand by Charles Holden, the building's designer, to choose the subject of this sculpture and the corresponding sculpture, 'Day'. Both were carved directly into the stone of the building. 'Night' was described by its creator as representing something elemental and primitive: man resting in the lap of night.
The controversy that followed this assignment, however, was such that Epstein did not work on another public art project for 20 years. The sculptures were reviled in the popular press and by some art critics. Architectural Review described them as 'a rather simian group'. | Format: | image/jpeg | Publisher: | London Transport Museum | Rights holder: | Transport for London | Subjects: | Cityscape Art and Design | Temporal: | 8 May 1929 | Source: | London Transport Museum | Creator: | Photographer : Topical Press | Identifier: | http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/rser... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | image/jpeg | Go to resource |
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