In London, Epstein involved himself with a
bohemian and artistic crowd. Revolting against ornate, pretty art, he made bold, often harsh and massive forms of bronze or stone. His sculpture is distinguished by its vigorous rough-hewn
realism. Brilliantly
avant-garde in concept and style, his works often shocked the general public. He often used expressively distorted figures, drawing more on non-Western art than the classical ideal. People in
Liverpool nicknamed his nude male sculpture over the door of
Lewis's department store "Dickie Lewis". Such factors may have focused disproportionate attention on certain aspects of Epstein's long and productive career, throughout which he aroused hostility, especially challenging taboos surrounding the depiction of
sexuality. Works condemned in his time as
obscene and disgraceful today communicate thought and understanding.
London was not ready for Epstein's first major commission — 18 large nude sculptures made in
1908 for the façade of
Charles Holden's building for the
British Medical Association on
The Strand (now
Zimbabwe House) were initially considered shocking to
Edwardian sensibilities. One of the most famous of Epstein's early commissions is the tomb of
Oscar Wilde in
Pere Lachaise cemetery,
Paris, "which was condemned as indecent and at one point was covered in tarpaulin by the French police."
However, the mutilated condition of many of the sculptures has nothing to do with prudish censorship; it was caused in the
1930s when possibly dangerous projecting features were hacked-off after pieces fell from one of the statues.
Between
1913 to
1915 Epstein was associated with the short-lived
Vorticism movement and produced one of his best known sculptures
The Rock Drill.
A commission from Holden for the new headquarters building of the
London Electric Railway generated another controversy in
1929. His nude sculptures
Day and
Night above the entrances of
55 Broadway were again considered indecent and a debate ragged for sometime regarding demands to remove the offending statutes which had been carved in-situ. Eventually a compromise was reached to modify the smaller of the two figures represented on Day. But the controversy affected his commissions for public work which dried-up until
World War II.
Between the late
1930s and the mid
1950s, numerous works by Epstein were exhibited in
Blackpool. Adam, Consummatum Est, Jacob and the Angel and Genesis (amongst other less notable works) were initially displayed in an old drapery shop surrounded by red velvet curtains. The crowds were ushered in at the cost of a shilling by a barker on the street. After a small tour of American fun fairs, the works were returned to Blackpool and were exhibited in the anatomical curiosities section of the
Louis Tussaud's waxworks. The works were displayed alongside dancing
marionettes, diseased body parts and
Siamese twin babies in jars. Placing Epstein within the context of freakish curiosity, especially at a time of such hostility towards the Jews, perhaps added to Epstein's decision not to create further large-scale
direct carvings.
Bronze portrait sculpture formed one of Epstein's staple products, and perhaps the best known. These sculptures were often executed with roughly textured surfaces, expressively manipulating small surface planes and facial details. Some fine examples are in the
National Portrait Gallery. Another famous example is the bust of legendary Arsenal manager
Herbert Chapman that sat in the marble halls of
Highbury for many years before being moved to the new
Emirates Stadium.
His larger sculpture was his most expressive and experimental, but also his most vulnerable. His depiction of Rima, one of author
W. H. Hudson's most famous characters, graces a serene enclosure in
Hyde Park. Even here, a visitor became so outraged as to defile it with paint.
Epstein was one of 250 sculptors who exhibited in the
3rd Sculpture International held at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art in the summer of
1949.
Enthusiastic about his work, Epstein would sculpt the images of friends, casual acquaintances, and even people dragged from the street into his studio almost at random. He worked even on his dying day.
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