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S0036
Sculpture: S0036
Title
Dame Sybil Thorndike
Technique
Bronze
Subject
Artist
Date
1925
Dimensions
Height: 49.5cm
Width: 62cm
Depth: 26.5cm
Width: 62cm
Depth: 26.5cm
Other materials
Wooden plinth 119.5 x 35.5 x 35.5
Inscription/signature
“SYBIL THORNDIKE / by EPSTEIN / PRESENTED BY SIR BRONSON ALBERY / 693” (gold painted plaque on plinth)
Provenance
Sir Bronson Albery, by whom presented to the Garrick Club, 1960
Other number
Gift 777
Related works
There is a version of the bust in the collection of John Casson dated 1924, although Buckle lists it as one of Epstein's eight 1925 portrait busts. Buckle suggests that the upward gaze and bobbed hair are reminders of Sybil Thorndyke's great success as St Joan (1924-25).
Literature
“The Sculptor Speaks: Jacob Epstein to Arnold L. Haskell” (1931) illustrated opposite p. 34, listed in catalogue as 1925 p. 184; “Jacob Epstein Sculptor” (1963) p. 140, No. 216, p. 426; Evelyn Silber “The Sculpture of Epstein” (1986) p. 158 No. 161
Sybil Thorndike was one of the signators to Muirhead Bone's letter to “The Times” 23 November 1925 objecting to a proposal to remove Epstein's controversial sculpture “Rima” from Hyde Park.
