EPSTEIN - Auckland Art Gallery

the humorous, and the profound. This was a combination which delightedme. He resembled the ageing Rembrandt. ... I worked for two hoursevery morning and at the first sitting the Professor was so surroundedwith tobacco smoke from his pipe that I saw nothing . . . in speaking ofNazis, he once said: '1 thought 1 was a Physicist, 1 did not bother aboutbeing a Jew until Hitler made me conscious of it.' (Autobiography, pp.77, 78)33LYDIA 1933BronzeLent by Mrs F. Nesbitt'Haskell' and 'Black' list versions of this sculpture made in 1930, 1931and 1933. However, a bust of 'Lydia' illustrated in the 'Autobiography'(facing page 119) is dated 1928; a further cast exhibited at the 'LeicesterGalleries', 1960, is dated 1938 in the catalogue. Exhibited 'Epstein-Sickert', May, June 1954, 'Queensland National Art Gallery', Australia,cat. no. 5.34BERNARD SHAW 1934BronzeLent by the Queensland National Art GalleryAt Shaw's insistence the original portrait was a full bust (illustrated,plate 8, 'Modern Sculpture', Teaching Portfolio No. 1, Museum ofModern Art, New York). The second version uses the head only, setat a slightly different angle (exhibited 'Arts Council', 1952, cat. no. 35).See also 'Leicester Galleries', 1960, cat. no. 29.George Bernard Shaw, playwright and polemicist, was born in Dublinin 1856. His career as a writer began with such novels as 'Love Amongthe Artists', 'Cashel Bryon's Profession', etc, and he wrote theatre andmusic criticism for various London papers in the 'nineties. His manyplays were at first treated with indifference or contempt by the publicat large, and only later in his life did he achieve success as a playwright.He was a vociferous Fabian and wrote many essays on behalf ofthe Society and its brand of Socialism. Shaw died at the age of ninetyfour.Shaw sat with exemplary patience and even eagerness. . . . In matters ofart he aired definite opinions, mostly wrong. . . . Shaw was puzzled bythe bust of himself and often looked at it and tried to make it out. Hebelieved that I had made a kind of primitive barbarian of him. Somethingaltogether uncivilised and really a projection of myself, rather thanof him. ... I believe this to be an authentic and faithful rendering ofGeorge Bernard Shaw physically and psychologically. I leave out anyquestion of aesthetics, as that would be beyond Shaw's comprehension.. . . Throughout my life in England, Shaw was an outspoken champion17N