Let There Be Sculpture: An autobiography

EPSTEIN, Jacob; [BRISCOMB, William]

Edité par Michael Joseph LTD, London, 1940

A propos de cet article

FIRST TRADE EDITION, INSCRIBED BY ARTIST-AUTHOR. Large 8vo, pp. 335, [1] + b/w frontis and plates. Original incarnadine linen, spine lettered in silver. Top edge red. Extremities pushed and rubbed, edges toned. Inscribed in black ink in Epstein's bold hand to half-title: "to William Briscomb from Jacob Epstein". Edges toned, occasional creasing and nicking to leading edges. Else, clean and tight. Very good. A grand copy of Epstein's weighty autobiography, amply illustrated in black and white, and published on the back of a decade that saw no public commissions and a return to direct carving, including the production of his huge alabaster pieces, Adam (1938-39; a photograph of which features as the frontispiece) and Jacob and the Angel (1940-1); unusual inscribed. In 1940, Epstein remained a contentious figure producing contentious work, rather than the duly celebrated artist he was later to become, and whose only public recognition to date was an honorary doctorate from Aberdeen University; hence, the challenge of his title and the adversarial tone of his final two chapters, 'The position of the artist now, and sculptors of today' and 'My place in sculpture,' the former beginning: "For those artists who feel the urge to creative work, the position to-day is hazardous and beset with difficulties." A signed, limited edition of 100 copes was issued simultaneously with the trade edition, while a Reader's Union edition followed in 1942. Epstein revised, enlarged and renamed his autobiography when it was reissued in 1955 by the Hulton Press. William Briscomb may have been William Bertram Briscomb, a Maida Vale-based Freemason, who had served in the RAF.

N° de réf. du vendeur 2811

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Let There Be Sculpture: An autobiography
• Éditeur: Michael Joseph LTD, London
• Date de parution: 1940
• Reliure: Cloth
• Édition: Edition originale
• État de l'article: Very Good
• Signé: Signé par l'auteur
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Art
  • Signed & Association Copies