17th Oct, 2023 10:00
Modern and Contemporary Art
128
▲ Sir Jacob Epstein (1880-1959)
Sir Jacob Epstein (1880-1959)
First portrait of Kitty (with curls)
bronze with a gold-brown patina, conceived in 1944
42cm wide
43cm deep
47cm high overall, on a composite stone base
Provenance: Christie's, South Kensington, 'Modern British & Irish Art', 9 December 2015.
Exhibited: London, Leicester Galleries, 'Girl with the Gardenias and Other Recent Sculpture by Jacob Epstein', May-June 1994, no. 3.
Literature: E Silber, 'The Sculpture of Epstein', Oxford, 1986, p.195, no. 356, another cast illustrated.
Kathleen Eleonora 'Kitty' Garman, later Kitty Epstein and Kitty Godley (27 August 1926 – 11 January 2011), was a British artist and muse. She was a model for her father Jacob Epstein, her first husband, Lucian Freud, and Andrew Tift. In 2004 she had her own show at the New Art Gallery, Walsall.
Kitty was well practised at sitting patiently for her portrait. The eldest daughter of the American-born twentieth-century sculptor Jacob Epstein, and his lover, also called Kathleen Garman. She frequently modelled for her father and here she is in bronze, cast in 1944, with a thick tumble of curls and those ever wide-open eyes.
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Sold for £8,500
Condition Report
Dirt, dust and discolouration in the crevices and eye sockets.
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Auction: Modern and Contemporary Art, 17th Oct, 2023
Viewing
London Viewing | Highlights
A selection of lots will be on view 21 September - 4 October at our London Gallery, 15 Cecil Court, London WC2N 4EZ, as follows:
Monday-Friday, 11am - 5.30pm
Saturday, 1pm - 5pm
Sunday - Closed
For more information, please contact 0203 971 2500 | london@sworder.co.uk
Stansted Viewing | Auction
Viewing will be held at our Stansted Auction Rooms, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet CM24 8GE, as follows:
Friday 13 October, 10am - 5pm
Sunday 15 October, 10am - 1pm
Monday 16 October, 10am - 5pm
All lots are, however, extensively illustrated and carry detailed condition reports - see 'Condition report' at the foot of each lot description.
The auction will take place at our Stansted Auction Rooms, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet CM24 8GE.
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