by Leo Kent

Both Gaudier and Gill befriended and were heavily influenced by the innovative and progressive Epstein and all three can be regarded as pioneers of modern art through their radical creations. The exhibition is divided neatly into three rooms, one for each sculptor and room one belongs to Englishman Eric Gill where you will find his standout piece, The Ecstasy. Heavily inspired by Hindu Temple sculptures, this Hoptonwood stone carving is an explicit depiction of a couple entwined in a sexual embrace. In his first solo exhibition Gill was not prepared to exhibit this provocative work that he described in his diaries as, “The (big) group fucking”.

Today this piece may not seem so shocking but the history of the man behind it, by today’s standards especially, appears deeply unsettling. It’s strange enough that the models for the sculpture were his sister Gladys and her husband but this is only the tip of the iceberg.  It turns out Gill had incestuous relations with Gladys throughout her life as well as with his own children, hidden away in their arts and crafts community in Sussex.

Probably what encapsulates the contradictory nature of Gill most in his art are two exhibits placed side-by-side: one is of a frail Jesus on the cross, the other is of a smiling, buxom women, naked with hands on hips exposing her genitalia. This odd juxtaposition is symbolic of the way Gill managed to reconcile his devotion to God and his promiscuous sex life.

Most of his carvings reflect his concern of returning to a primeval form of art. Inspired by Epstein’s technique of direct carving, Gill did not use any preliminary mould but carved directly onto the stone which give his pieces their rounded, elementary appeal.

Henri Gaudier- Brzeska, was similarly inspired by Epstein’s direct carving after visiting his studio in 1912 and soon followed suit. What is sad about Gaudier’s work is that it shows all the potential of a great artist to be. Killed in the War at the tender age of 23 there is a sense of incompleteness in his works, as if they are prototypes for a singular style of sculpture that he would have developed had he lived.

At the end of the room is a large monolith head, inspired by the Easter Island statues, of the controversial poet, Ezra Pound, a friend and ally of Gaudier in the Vorticist movement of the 1910s. It was described by the Vorticist leader, Wyndham Lewis, as ‘Ezra in the form of a marble phallus.’

His most important piece is Bird Swallowing a Fish. The unremitting strength of the squared fins of the fish stuck in the gullet of the bird seem to imply that the bird is being killed as much as its prey, which perhaps is a comment on the stalemate of the First World War.

The last room is devoted to Jacob Epstein, a New York Jew who moved permanently to Britain in 1905 and caused much public outrage with his works. The first controversy was over the carvings he was commissioned to do on the newly built British Medical Association headquarters on the Strand where he depicted among other things an overtly sexual pregnant woman in a piece called maternity. It is perhaps unlucky that these risque carvings on the BMA were directly opposite the offices for the National Vigilance Association who instantly mounted a campaign against the works.

At the end of the gallery stands the most monumental piece of the whole exhibition: Epstein’s terrifying Rock Drill. A machine-like beast perches menacingly atop a mechanic rock drill, his small bird-like head upon disproportionately broad shoulders. His torso is open and inside lies a foetus. Bearing in mind this vision of a future dystopia run by mindless automatons precedes Huxley’s Brave New World or Zamyatin’s We, it is a truly progressive and prophetic piece. When it was first exhibited most critics were appalled with one reviewer declaring it as ‘indescribably revolting’. It is slightly misleading of the Royal Academy to only put a small sign up admitting that this is a reconstruction. In 1916 Epstein removed the actual drill, chopped off most of the limbs and cast the remains in bronze. This original is placed near the reconstruction, and even in its mutilated form, the metallic casting makes for an ever more impressive and frightening piece.

Rock Drill really belongs on a different plain of artistic endeavour to the other pieces in the exhibition. It is a watershed moment in modern art leading to whole unthought of avenues being opened up for the daring to go down.

The exhibition runs at the Royal Academy of Arts until the 24^th of January.