Jacob Epstein Heroic Torso Exhibited at Coventry Cathedral - GOLDMARK

Well today has been a very exciting day. You might tell that we're here at Coventry Cathedral and we've been overseeing the installation of this magnificent bronze statue by Jacob Epstein. This is Heroic Torso. It was made in 1954 and it's actually the torso of a full figure that was commissioned from Epstein by the board of directors of Lewis's department store in Liverpool. Liverpool had been devastated by the blitz and the front of the department store had been destroyed in 1941. So Epstein was approached to produce a striding figure that would stand at the front of the store looking out over the city and providing some feeling of hope, morale, a boost to the It's a very special sculpture because not only is it the largest Jacob Epstein outside of national collections, it's also never been seen before in this country. It's produced in Epstein's studio. In fact the full-scale figure was too large to be worked in his normal Hyde Park gate workshop and so it was moved to premises on Exhibition Road. It was here that the American collector Edward P. Shinman came and visited Epstein and bought the work, shipped it straight back to America. Shinman was a businessman who over time developed the largest collection of Epstein sculptures anywhere in the world. When he died slowly that collection was auctioned off. When this piece was bought back in the UK it had never been outside of its shipping crate and so today in front of the Chapel of Unity in Coventry Cathedral is the first time that anybody has seen it on display in this country. It's made its way here today to the Coventry Cathedral from the Goldmark Gallery. It's been a nail-biting experience seeing it placed in location here. This is a huge sculpture, it's over two meters tall and weighs probably in excess of 300 kilograms so it's been quite the ordeal to get it in place but the fantastic Artfabs team have been very helpful in getting it into this location here. The magnitude and the vigour of the modelling on this work really conveys what Epstein had become at this point in his career. He was the great sculptor of British art in the early 20th century and this was part of a number of vast public commissions that really cemented his reputation, his legacy as an immense sculptor. It'll be here on display at Coventry from the 19th of March to the 31st of May. It's part of a wider exhibition called Stories in Stone and it joins two other bronzes lent by the Goldmark Gallery in the Lady Chapel at the back of the Cathedral. I hope you've enjoyed this little glimpse into what's been a very exciting day for us today at Coventry Cathedral.