DOI Heft:
No. 328 (July 1920)
DOI Artikel:Cournos, John: Jacob Epstein: Artist-philosopher
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21360#0182
JACOB EPSTEIN: ARTIST-PHILOSOPHER
one by one, and see how far any of them is
justified. 00000
In the first place, it has been complained
that the Christ is Semitic ! Such com-
plainants, of course, haven't a leg to stand
on. Christ, of the seed of David, was cer-
tainly a Jew. 00000
Again, a great number of critics object
to this Christ for not being perfect of
feature. But in spite of Renan's vision of
Christ as 44 the most beautiful Incarnation
of God in the most beautiful of human
forms," there is actually nothing in the
Gospels either to confirm or refute this
assumption. Working on the principle of
44 a healthy mind in a healthy body," Renan
has simply assumed that such beautiful
words as Christ's must needs come from
an equally beautiful body. In actual prac-
tice, this is, of course, not so. Unfor-
tunately for the health argument, too many
of our geniuses have been neurotics. And
the beauty argument is built upon no more
sound foundation. If there were any truth
in such logic, we should gather from a
reading of Abraham Lincoln's speeches
that he was at least a handsome, if not a
beautiful man ; whereas we know from his
portraits and descriptions of him that his
figure was gawky and ungainly, and that his
face was what most people would regard
as ugly. 00000
The combination of perfect beauty and
characteristics such as goodness, or intel-
lect, is of course possible, but extremely
rare. Indeed, perfect beauty is almost
invariably associated with cruelty, as an
examination of all the well-known Apollos
will show. Again, we know that men's
experience has taught them to associate
cruelty rather than goodness with beauty
as regards women. There is another kind
of beauty, which is concerned not with
perfect feature, but with character and all
that the word implies ; and it is that kind
of beauty that Epstein has sought to give
his Christ. For an expression of this
beauty the sculptor has had ample material
in the Gospels. This question is not at all
a simple one ; to some degree the Christ
features are dependent upon the age;
Michelangelo in a pagan age has created a
pagan Christ. With this aspect of the
problem, the matter of time, I shall deal
further. 00000
176
Other strictures of Epstein’s Christ have
been that He is 44 intellectual" instead of
good (as if Christ were an ordinary mortal
and carried His goodness on His sleeve!);
that he is scornful (this for one who spoke
of casting pearls before swine !) ; that he
is a Bolshevik (it is certain that the money-
changers and Caiaphas regarded him as
such, in the sense that he was a rebel
against the established order !). It is some-
thing of a tribute to the sculptor's genius
that his statue has aroused antagonisms of
a nature akin to those aroused by the
original figure. After all, if Christ's good-
ness was so palpable to all men, the
** *
one by one, and see how far any of them is
justified. 00000
In the first place, it has been complained
that the Christ is Semitic ! Such com-
plainants, of course, haven't a leg to stand
on. Christ, of the seed of David, was cer-
tainly a Jew. 00000
Again, a great number of critics object
to this Christ for not being perfect of
feature. But in spite of Renan's vision of
Christ as 44 the most beautiful Incarnation
of God in the most beautiful of human
forms," there is actually nothing in the
Gospels either to confirm or refute this
assumption. Working on the principle of
44 a healthy mind in a healthy body," Renan
has simply assumed that such beautiful
words as Christ's must needs come from
an equally beautiful body. In actual prac-
tice, this is, of course, not so. Unfor-
tunately for the health argument, too many
of our geniuses have been neurotics. And
the beauty argument is built upon no more
sound foundation. If there were any truth
in such logic, we should gather from a
reading of Abraham Lincoln's speeches
that he was at least a handsome, if not a
beautiful man ; whereas we know from his
portraits and descriptions of him that his
figure was gawky and ungainly, and that his
face was what most people would regard
as ugly. 00000
The combination of perfect beauty and
characteristics such as goodness, or intel-
lect, is of course possible, but extremely
rare. Indeed, perfect beauty is almost
invariably associated with cruelty, as an
examination of all the well-known Apollos
will show. Again, we know that men's
experience has taught them to associate
cruelty rather than goodness with beauty
as regards women. There is another kind
of beauty, which is concerned not with
perfect feature, but with character and all
that the word implies ; and it is that kind
of beauty that Epstein has sought to give
his Christ. For an expression of this
beauty the sculptor has had ample material
in the Gospels. This question is not at all
a simple one ; to some degree the Christ
features are dependent upon the age;
Michelangelo in a pagan age has created a
pagan Christ. With this aspect of the
problem, the matter of time, I shall deal
further. 00000
176
Other strictures of Epstein’s Christ have
been that He is 44 intellectual" instead of
good (as if Christ were an ordinary mortal
and carried His goodness on His sleeve!);
that he is scornful (this for one who spoke
of casting pearls before swine !) ; that he
is a Bolshevik (it is certain that the money-
changers and Caiaphas regarded him as
such, in the sense that he was a rebel
against the established order !). It is some-
thing of a tribute to the sculptor's genius
that his statue has aroused antagonisms of
a nature akin to those aroused by the
original figure. After all, if Christ's good-
ness was so palpable to all men, the
** *