'Professor Albert Einstein', Jacob Epstein
The theories of the German-born, Jewish physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) revolutionised scientists’ understanding of the universe at the beginning of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921, and became a symbol of the modern scientific age.
In 1933 Einstein fled from Nazi Germany. He sat for this bust, an outstanding example of Epstein’s 'celebrity portraiture’, at a Cromer refugee camp in 1933. The sculptor later recalled the occasion: “Einstein appeared dressed very comfortably in a pullover with his wild hair
floating on the wind. His glance contained a mixture of the humane, the humorous and the profound. This was a combination that delighted me. He resembled the ageing Rembrandt.”
Bronze, modelled in 1933
Purchased in 1948 (No. 387)
'Albert Einstein', Jacob Epstein, Tate Collection
'Albert Einstein', Jacob Epstein, The Fitzwilliam Museum