After a very nice coffee and chocolare brownie in the Royal Academies members room watching the snow fall, we proceeded to the exhbition of three of the great artists/sculptors of the 20th century.
Probably Epstein and his rock drill are better known than Eric Gill, both are better known than ....
Seeing Epstein's Rock Drill scultpture in it's full glory was dramatic. I have sense the torse version before in the Tate, which is very striking on it own; especially when you realises that this peace is now nearly 100 years old.
My image of Eric Gill was rather shattered by mother's revelations regarding his terrible, private life. This was totally at odds with the image I had of Gill. His drawing are beautiful, his calligraphy/very fine pen work are distinctive and his naturalistic/romantic full-breasted mother and child stone statues are absolutely adorable. However his private life, despite an appearance of being religious was depressingly awful, as mother pointed out - "you wished you didn't know about him".
The suprise highlights for me were the work's of Gaudier-Brzeska and the images of Ezra Pound:
The exhibition contains more than 90 works featuring mainly sculptures, drawings and pastels. With rooms dedicated to the work of each sculptor the exhibition focuses on the key achievements of each artist and reveals their impact on British sculpture. The show brings together spectacular works, including Epstein’s robotic masterpiece Rock Drill, Gaudier-Brzeska’s innovative carving of Birds Erect, and Gill’s controversial carving of the sexual act called Ecstasy.
The title of this exhibition is taken from the American poet Ezra Pound, who vividly remembered meeting Henri Gaudier-Brzeska for the first time in 1913. Pound was impressed by the young Frenchman, and likened him to “a well-made young wolf or some soft-moving, bright-eyed wild thing.” But those last two words also sum up the feisty and daring spirit of rebellion driving the young Jacob Epstein and Eric Gill.
http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/wild-thing-epstein-gaudier-brzeska-gill/
It is tradgic to think that Gaudier-Brzeska talents were lost in the first World War.
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