Joseph Conrad

1 portrait

Photograph © National Portrait Gallery, London

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Joseph Conrad

by Jacob Epstein
bronze bust, 1924
19 5/8 in. x 10 5/8 in. (500 mm x 270 mm) overall
Purchased, 1960
Primary Collection
NPG 4159

On display in Room 19 on Floor 2 at the National Portrait Gallery

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  • Sir Jacob Epstein (1880-1959), Sculptor. Artist or producer of 15 portraits, Sitter in 71 portraits.

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'Conrad gave a feeling of defeat; but defeat met with courage' recalled Epstein, 'The drooping weary lids intensified the impression of brooding thought. The whole head revealed the man who had suffered much ... My bust of Conrad brought out his fierce, almost demonic energy, but I did not try to read into his psychology - I went entirely by what I saw.' Conrad approved, describing the bust as 'something more than a masterly interpretation ... It is wonderful to go down in posterity like that'.

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Current affairs

After narrowly winning the general election the previous year, Stanley Baldwin calls a vote of confidence at the opening of the new session of Parliament and is defeated. George V invited James Ramsay Macdonald to form a minority Labour government, making him the first Labour Prime Minister.

Art and science

Eric Liddell wins the gold medal at the Olympic games, breaking the record for running the 400 metres in 47.6 seconds. The distance was not in fact his strongest event, but he refused to run the 100 metres because the heats were held on the Sabbath. His story is told in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire.

International

After three strokes and several years of illness Lenin dies. Three days later the city of Petrograd is renamed Leningrad in his honour. On coming to power Stalin began the policy of 'socialism in one country' abandoning the traditional hope for international proletarian revolution in order to strengthen Russia internally and independently.

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