Graphite on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
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>
Reclining Figure
Purchased 1928
actions: postures and motions
adults
black
ethnicity
female
nudes
people
reclining
woman
<p>The model for this study remains unknown. It is one of many drawings of women of colour Epstein made in the summer of 1928, many of which were exhibited at the Godfrey Phillips Gallery in London later that year. Epstein is primarily known as a sculptor, but according to art historian Frank Felsenstein he was also ‘a compulsive sketcher’. He developed this interest as a child, drawing figures he had seen in city crowds. He grew up in New York, the child of Polish-Jewish parents, moving to London in 1905.</p><p>This drawing was exhibited under the title<span> The Little Negress </span>in 1928. The use of the term ‘negress’, the female form of ‘negro’, was commonly used in the 1920s. It is now acknowledged as offensive. The term derives from the Latin for black. From the 18th century onwards it became associated with the now debunked pseudoscience of ‘race biology’. This discriminatory classification of people based on their skin colour has been used to justify racism.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2019</em></p>
paper unique graphite
10 January 2006 – 19 March 2006
2006-03-19
10 January 2006 – 19 March 2006
2006-03-19
2006-01-10
Ben Uri Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.benuri.org.uk/
27 March 2006 – 20 May 2006
2006-05-20
2006-03-27
Hatton Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
2006-01-10
Embracing the Exotic: Jacob Epstein and Dora Gordine
Loan-out
13 October 2014 – 4 October 2015
2015-10-04
13 October 2014 – 4 October 2015
2015-10-04
2014-10-13
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-10-13
Spaces of Black Modernism
Collection based display
Reclining Figure
support: 476 × 559 mm
Purchased 1928
<div class="text">
<p>The model for this study remains unknown. It is one of many drawings of women of colour Epstein made in the summer of 1928, many of which were exhibited at the Godfrey Phillips Gallery in London later that year. Epstein is primarily known as a sculptor, but according to art historian Frank Felsenstein he was also ‘a compulsive sketcher’. He developed this interest as a child, drawing figures he had seen in city crowds. He grew up in New York, the child of Polish-Jewish parents, moving to London in 1905.  </p>
<p>This drawing was exhibited under the title<i> The Little Negress </i>in 1928. The use of the term ‘negress’, the female form of ‘negro’, was commonly used in the 1920s. It is now acknowledged as offensive. The term derives from the Latin for black. From the 18th century onwards it became associated with the now debunked pseudoscience of ‘race biology’. This discriminatory classification of people based on their skin colour has been used to justify racism. </p>
</div>

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2019-07-30T00:00:00
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DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions adults black ethnicity female nudes people reclining woman