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Hélène
Sculptor: Epstein, Jacob
Bronze. Hair is parted in the centre with a bun at back; a low cut dress, off the shoulders, and both arms to the elbow; the hands clasped in front of the left breast are detached. The head is bent forward and tilted slightly to the left.
no. 1 of an edition of 3, with later additional casts know
Given by A.E. Anderson
Height: 53.4 cm
Method of acquisition: Given (1931) by Anderson, A.E.
20th Century
George V
Production date:
AD 1919
The model for this bust, Hélène, was of dual ethnic heritage and married to the musician W. Yellin. The half-smile, gentle expression and demure gesture of her hands clasped to her breast recall images of women made during the Italian Renaissance, and imbue the portrait with a calm spirituality and lyricism. Here, as in other post-War portraits, Epstein rejected the smooth geometric forms of earlier heads in favour of a roughly-modelled surface, which broke up the light. Although some critics deplored this 'mud-pie' effect, others hailed Epstein as 'the greatest modeller since Rodin'.
Casting (process) : Bronze, cast and patinated
Accession number: M.11-1931
Primary reference Number: 12312
External ID: CAM_CCF_M_11_1931
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Hélène" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/12312 Accessed: 2025-06-20 22:04:25
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/12312
|title=Hélène
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-06-20 22:04:25|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-12312
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa29/M_11_1931_1_mas.jpg"
alt="Hélène"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Hélène</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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