Lot Essay
Of the portrait of George Bernard Shaw, Epstein wrote, 'I think that there are in it elements so subtle that they would be difficult to explain ... He walked to my studio every day, and was punctual and conscientious. In matters of art he aired definite opinions, mostly wrong. Throughout my life in England, Shaw was an outspoken champion of my work ... He was generous to young talent'. Shaw wrote the sculptor a long letter 'Your first sketch ... is a brilliant thumbnail version of me as I am. Then you went on to perform marvels of modelling on lips and cheeks and mouth with all the mastery that makes your busts precious' (see R. Buckle, Jacob Epstein Sculptor, London, 1963, pp. 210-11).