Isobel 1933

Jacob Epstein made this earth-toned sculpture, Isobel, by building up the clay, bit by bit, with his hands. Imagine the artist building this form over time, shifting and changing through experiment, and intuition. I wonder what he was thinking as he worked? Notice the skin-like texture and the rough folds of the drapery that make the sculpture feel so alive. The artist's fingerprints are almost visible in the clay, revealing the hand’s touch. The lines around the arms and torso are energetic, and kind of sensual, like a drawing in three dimensions. Epstein was part of a generation of artists, like Rodin and Brancusi, who were radically reinventing sculpture. They had a love for the figure and an interest in primal, honest expression. When we look at artworks like this, it feels like artists are having a conversation across time, inspiring each other's creativity. Making art is about embracing ambiguity, letting go of fixed interpretations, and seeing where the process takes you.