Bronze
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Contemporary Art Society
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-jacob-epstein-1061" aria-label="More by Sir Jacob Epstein" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Jacob Epstein</a>
Jacob Kramer
Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1924
adults
artist, painter
arts and entertainment
body
head / face
individuals: male
Kramer, Jacob
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<p>Jacob Kramer (1892–1962) was a painter, originally from the Ukraine. His family left following violent anti-Jewish pogroms and settled in Leeds in 1900. Kramer attended Leeds School of Art and was based in the city throughout his career. Epstein was born in the United States, and his parents were also Jewish refugees. The two artists were close friends and modelled for each other. Epstein later wrote that Kramer ‘was a model who seemed to be on fire’ and that ‘energy seemed to leap into his hair as he sat’.</p><p><em>Gallery label, January 2023</em></p>
sculpture bronze
3 May 2004 – 30 August 2004
2004-08-30
3 May 2004
2004-05-03
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2004-05-03
Turbine Hall (heads)
Collection based display
1 July 2006 – 30 June 2009
2009-06-30
30 October 2006 – 30 June 2009
2009-06-30
2006-10-30
Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK)
http://www.vam.ac.uk
2006-07-01
Victoria & Albert Museum
Loan-out
30 November 2012 – 25 September 2022
2022-09-25
30 November 2012
2012-11-30
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-11-30
Gallery 3
Collection based display
Jacob Kramer
object: 658 × 539 × 332 mm, 35.5 kg
Presented by the <a href="/search?gid=999999975" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Contemporary Art Society</a> 1924
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<p>Jacob Kramer (1892–1962) was a painter, originally from the Ukraine. His family left following violent anti-Jewish pogroms and settled in Leeds in 1900. Kramer attended Leeds School of Art and was based in the city throughout his career. Epstein was born in the United States, and his parents were also Jewish refugees. The two artists were close friends and modelled for each other. Epstein later wrote that Kramer ‘was a model who seemed to be on fire’ and that ‘energy seemed to leap into his hair as he sat’.</p>
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2023-01-12T00:00:00
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DISPLAY_CAPTION
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<p>
<b>N03849</b> JACOB KRAMER 1921</p>
<p>Not inscribed.<br/>Bronze, 25×21×10 (64×53×25·5).<br/>Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1924.<br/>
<i>Coll:</i> Purchased by the C.A.S. from the artist 1921; lent to the Tate Gallery 1923.<br/>
<i>Exh:</i> C.A.S., <i>Paintings and Drawings,</i> Grosvenor House, June–July 1923 (29A); Arts Council, Tate Gallery, September–November 1952 (18); Arts Council, Tate Gallery, November–December 1961 (18, detail repr. pl.10).<br/>
<i>Lit:</i> Wellington, 1925, p.26, repr. pl.22; Haskell, 1931, p.178; Powell, 1932, p.117 Epstein, 1940, p.113, repr. facing p.136; <i>ibid.</i>, 1955, p.94; John Rothenstein, <i>The Tate Gallery</i>, 1958, pp.189–90, repr. pl.15; exh. cat., <i>Jacob Kramer</i>, Leeds, September–October 1960; Buckle, 1963, pp.110, 425, repr. pls.173, 174.<br/>
<i>Repr:</i> Herbert Maryon, <i>Modern Sculpture</i>, 1933, pl.101; Black, 1942, pl.12.</p>
<p>Jacob Kramer (1892–1962) was a painter born in Ukraine who settled at Leeds in 1900; a retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Leeds City Art Gallery in September – October 1960. He was on friendly terms with Epstein, who wrote to him on 29 November 1920 to ask if Kramer was still in the mood to sit for him: ‘I would want to do your head, torso and arms. In return I will sit to you and you can make <a data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'">drawings</a> or an oil study.’ Epstein (<i>loc. cit.</i>) wrote later of the sittings: ‘The Leeds painter, Kramer, was a model who seemed to be on fire. He was extraordinarily nervous. Energy seemed to leap into his hair as he sat, and sometimes he would be shaken by queer tremblings like ague. I would try to calm him, so as to get on with the work.’</p>
<p>Another <a data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/cast" title="Glossary definition for 'Cast'">cast</a> is at Temple Newsam, Leeds, and one was bought by Professor Oko for the Hebrew Museum, Cincinnati. The bust was to have been used for the figure of St John in a group of <i>The Descent from the Cross</i>, but this work was never carried out. The <i>Weeping Woman</i> of 1922 (of which there is a cast at Leicester) was intended for the same group.</p>
<p>
<b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964.</p>
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Catalogue entry
2023-02-10T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults artist, painter arts and entertainment body head / face individuals: male Kramer, Jacob man named individuals people portraits work and occupations