研究所、轉學考(插大)、學士後-英文題庫下載題庫

Jacob Epstein’s sculptures were the focus of much controversy during the sculptor’s lifetime. Epstein was born in the United States of Russian-Jewish immigrants in 1880. He moved to Paris in his youth and later to England, where he eventually settled and took out British citizenship in 1907. His first major public commission, on a building in London, offended most people because of the expressive distortion and nudity of the figures. In 1937, the Rhodesian government, which at that time owned the building, actually mutilated the sculptures to make them conform to public notions of decency. Many Epstein’s monumental carvings also received adverse criticism. While the lay persons denounced his work, many artists and critics praised it. They admired in particular the diversity of his work and noted how it was influenced by the primitive and ancient sculptural motifs from Africa and the Pacific. Today, Epstein’s work has received the recognition it deserves, and Epstein is considered one of the major sculptors of the twentieth century.