Bronze
Tate Collection
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Chantrey Bequest
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>
Mrs Mary McEvoy
Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1953
adults
clothing and personal items
Edwards, Mary Spencer
individuals: female
McEvoy, Mary
named individuals
necklace
objects
people
portraits
woman
<p>Mary McEvoy (1871-1941) trained at the Slade School of Art, London, and is represented in the Tate Gallery's collection by a painting of a woman reading. She married the painter Ambrose McEvoy in 1902. She sat to Epstein for this portrait bust in 1909, and her family recall that it was modelled by candlelight as the electricity had been cut off. After the experience of modelling from Mary McEvoy using clay, Epstein decided to carve a bust of the same sitter in marble. This was bought by Johannesburg Art Gallery in 1910. Both the bronze and the marble busts capture the gentle strength of the sitter.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
sculpture bronze
1 January 2001
1 August 2009 – 28 February 2027
2027-02-28
2009-08-01
Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK)
http://www.vam.ac.uk
2001-01-01
Long loan to V&A
Loan-out
1 April 2012 – 12 August 2012
2012-08-12
1 April 2012 – 30 June 2012
2012-06-30
2012-04-01
Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK)
http://www.vam.ac.uk
2012-04-01
Reciprocal loan for Migrations
Loan-out
Mrs Mary McEvoy
object: 419 × 394 × 229 mm
Presented by the Trustees of the <a href="/search?gid=999999977" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Chantrey Bequest</a> 1953
<p>Mary McEvoy (1871-1941) trained at the Slade School of Art, London, and is represented in the Tate Gallery's collection by a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> of a woman reading. She married the painter Ambrose McEvoy in 1902. She sat to Epstein for this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a> bust in 1909, and her family recall that it was modelled by candlelight as the electricity had been cut off. After the experience of modelling from Mary McEvoy using clay, Epstein decided to carve a bust of the same sitter in marble. This was bought by Johannesburg Art Gallery in 1910. Both the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/metal" title="Glossary definition for 'Metal'"><span>bronze</span></a> and the marble busts capture the gentle strength of the sitter.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-02T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N06139</b> MRS MARY MCEVOY <i>c.</i> 1910
<br/> 
<br/>Not inscribed.
<br/>Bronze, 16 1/2×15 1/2×9 (42×39×23).
<br/>Chantrey Purchase from Mrs A. Bazell 1953.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Purchased from the artist by the sitter's daughter, Mrs Anna Bazell, <i>c.</i> 1949.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Leicester Galleries, February–March 1917 (4), as ‘Mrs Ambrose McEvoy’; Grosvenor Galleries, summer 1922 (38); Farargil Galleries, New York, November 1927 (13); <i>Jacob Epstein and Matthew Smith,</i> Temple Newsam, Leeds, July–September 1942 (7), as lent by the Leicester Galleries; Tate Gallery, September–November 1952 (4); R.A., 1953 (1280); Edinburgh Festival, August–September 1961 (16).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Van Dieren, 1920, p.72, repr. pl.24; Haskell, 1931, p.167; Epstein, 1940, p.56; ibid., 1955, p.42; Buckle, 1963, pp.23, 39–41, 424, repr. pls.55–6.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>Royal Academy Illustrated, 1953, p.88.</i></p>
<p>The bust is dated 1910 by Haskell, <i>loc. cit.</i>, but Buckle, <i>loc. cit.</i>, dates it 1909. Cf. <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/epstein-euphemia-lamb-n03187" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03187</span></a>.</p>
<p>The sitter was Mary Spencer Edwards (1871–1941), wife of Ambrose McEvoy, both painters. Her daughter wrote (9 September 1959); ‘Apart from its merits as a work of art, this bust was also an amazing likeness of my mother.’ Buckle notes (<i>op. cit.</i>, p.40) that the bust was modelled by candlelight as the electricity had been cut off.</p>
<p>A marble bust made shortly after the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/metal" title="Glossary definition for 'Metal'"><span>bronze</span></a> was acquired by the Municipal Art Gallery, Johannesburg, by 1911 and is reproduced in Buckle, <i>op. cit.</i>, pl.57. Another bronze of <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/epstein-mrs-mary-mcevoy-n06139" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N06139</span></a> is in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (1077), purchased 1933. A third <a class="glossarylinktopopup" 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'"><span>cast</span></a> was made for Mrs Bazell in 1953.</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, I</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-08T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults clothing and personal items Edwards, Mary Spencer individuals: female McEvoy, Mary named individuals necklace objects people portraits woman