Today Jacob Epstein, the famous sculptor, will be fifty-eight years of age, and there are many in the world who will wish him long years in which to continue what appears to them to be a process of flouting artistic sensibilities. Those who have only had the opportunity of seeing pictures of highly publicized grotesques which have aroused such storms of criticism will probably not realize that When it comes to the accurate portrayal of form, Epstein is in a class by himself, There are in most countries of the world delightful examples of the quality of his work, things which would be pleasant to have in any home, and upon which ever to look with admiration. In particular the writer has a recollection of a delightfully fashioned head of a baby, on view in a London art dealer's window, a thing of real beauty and life. In portraiture too he is able by his own methods to produce likenesses in which are delineated the form and character of His sitters, and when all this is remembered, it becomes all the more puzzling fo understand his departure into art for which are not only grotesque but actually repulse Is it just some selfish desire to shock humánity, or an indication to the world that an artist need only consult his own taste as to what he shall do, and how he shall do it? There is more than a suggestion that what he has been really doing is to test the amount of hypocrisy which exists in certain art circles, and that those who have professed to find some deeply esoteríc message in some of his sculptures will one day find that Epstein has been quietly pulling their very eminent legs. It is to be hoped not, for many reputations would suffer, and the feelings of even more would be hurt On the other hand centuries hence may discover that Epstein was long before his time, and has been serving caviar io the general in which event the art experts who delight in his work will be justified, even if they never realize it.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.