Torso in Metal from 'The Rock Drill'

Torso in Metal from 'The Rock Drill'

Epstein had originally set a plaster figure of this piece on top of a real industrial rock drill, creating a robot with a machine-like element. This piece at the time was a symbol of the new age dawning. This is what Epstein was going for but when he started hearing news of the casualties fro the 'mechanised warfare' of World War I. At this point Epstein removed the drill and dismantled the figure from the waist down. He then cast the remaining figure in bronze; transforming it from a menacing symbol of the new age, to a mutilated, vulnerable, victim to the violence it once symbolized.

Jacob Epstein

The Rock Drill

1913-15

Bronze, 705 x 584 x 445 mm,

Sculpture

This piece was made in the beginnings of World War I were mechanised warfare was making a debut.