Art: Sir Jacob

For most of his creative lifetime, Sculptor Jacob Epstein has been outraging public commentators on good taste and good morals with his lumpish, aggressively individualistic statuary. G. K. Chesterton denounced his Ecce Homo as an “insult”; the London Times called his Genesis “repellent.” Such criticism has convinced Epstein that he is a persecuted, misunderstood genius, denied the recognition due to one of the world’s greatest living sculptors. Last week an accolade came to Epstein which should convince him that the world now acknowledges him both as an artist and as a public figure of standing and respect. In a New Year’s Honors List which also included a barony for longtime Cabinet Minister Leslie Hore-Belisha and knighthoods for 84-year-old Comedian George Robey and ex-Foreign Office News Chief William Ridsdale. Queen Elizabeth II made Epstein a Knight Commander Order of the British Empire. From now on Jacob Epstein, born 73 years ago on Manhattan’s lower East Side, a British subject since before World War I, will be Sir Jacob.