Photographs of crowd queuing to see 'Adam' by Epstein in Blackpool, 1939
h 16.3 w 21.0
Donated in 1988
Shows which are money makers because of their sensational character are nothing new. The `Adam' by Jacob Epstein caused an outcry when it was first shown at the Leicester Gallery, London. After the exhibition the work was sold to a keen businessman and w
ent on show in Blackpool. This side-show was a big financial success, for the businessman involved not the artist. The work was controversial but was this the artist's intention or was he making art nobody was ready for? Is it then true that artists can
be ahead of their time? Or can art only make an impact when the time is right and society is going through the same sort of changes as the artist? The public and critics at the time argued about the `Adam': "Is this the man God made in his own image?". O
thers said that the Adam was the boldest experiment in neo-barbarism which its creator had yet attempted. Two years after Epstein's death, his controversial carvings moved from being mocked to being revered. More about these issues on 11
August. One thing is sure Epstein's path was not strewn with roses.
