Sir Jacob EpsteinDahlias c.1936

In the 1930s Epstein embarked upon a series of nature and flower studies which were highly unusual in his oeuvre. Renowned as an avant-garde and often controversial sculptor whose work had challenged audiences and critics by rejecting western traditions in favour of an aesthetic inflected by the art of Africa, Asia and Polynesia, Epstein reverted in these works to a more orthodox subject-matter and style.

Both this painting and Dahlias and Sunflower (Tate T05759) were executed during a stay at Baldwin's Hill in Epping Forest in Essex, where Epstein had rented a number of properties since 1922. In what he described as 'a frenzy of painting' (Epstein, p… (read more)