Baby asleep

Born in America, Epstein studied in New York before moving to Paris in 1902, and then to London in 1905, where he settled and became a British citizen. This exquisite bronze was the first sculpture in the collection ever to be acquired by Robert Sainsbury, and indeed the earliest known of Epstein’s sculptures.

Baby Asleep was modelled from life, the subject was the infant of a young model who came to Epstein’s Paris studio. For the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection, this serene object represents more than Robert’s first acquisition, but a number of significant relationships. In Paris, Epstein met Picasso and Modigliani, and some years later – by then equally acclaimed and vilified as the forerunner of the modern movement – Epstein championed the young Henry Moore. The pair shared an early commitment to the direct carving of material and a fascination with the ‘primitive’ collections of the British Museum.

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Amanda Geitner, Director, East Anglia Art Fund