Dimensions: object: 648 x 787 x 343 mm
Copyright: © The estate of Sir Jacob Epstein | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: Right, so here we have 'Doves' by Jacob Epstein. It's a stone sculpture, and it feels so solid, so peaceful. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It's a tender image, isn't it? Epstein often wrestled with the tension between modernism and something deeply ancient. I feel that tension here. The doves are almost abstract, simplified, but the tenderness is palpable. It whispers of creation, of the very source of life. Do you sense that too? Editor: I think I do. It's like the birds are emerging, but also sheltering. Curator: Exactly! Perhaps it’s that duality, that dance between the old and the new, that makes it so powerful, so evocative. Editor: I hadn't thought of it that way. Thanks!
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Jacob Epstein moved to England from America in 1905. The sculpture of Epstein and his contemporaries represented a new direction in British sculpture. They used ‘direct carving’, a method of cutting directly into wood or stone, choosing not to create preparatory wax or clay models as had been traditional. Epstein collected African and Oceanic sculpture, which influenced the bold simplified forms of his work. Doves represents two copulating birds and reflects Epstein’s interest in exploring sexuality and procreation and his wish to find subjects that were expressive but not complicated. Gallery label, March 2018
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