The Risen Christ

This statue is part of the excellent "Head to Head" exhibition at the Portrait Gallery in Queen Street. It was created by Sir Jacob Epstein from 1917 to 1919. Here is what the gallery website has to say about the work:

'The Risen Christ' began as a portrait of Epstein's friend, the composer Bernard van Dieren. It was begun in 1917 when van Dieren was ill, and Epstein wanted to make a mask of him looking 'spiritual and worn with suffering.' After making a mask from clay, the piece then developed into the figure of Christ. Work was temporarily put on hold when Epstein was enlisted in 1917 but continued a year later. The artist considered the figure to be an anti-war statement and declared that he would ideally like it to be remodelled and made hundreds of feet high as a 'mighty symbolic warning to all lands.'

There is more about the exhibition on the gallery website.

The reason I was at the gallery was to see the Lee Miller and Picasso exhibition (also recommended) with my photography group, Wifie. However, you aren't allowed to take photographs of that exhibition, and you are allowed to photograph the Head to Head exhibition.

I think Blip thinks that this is my fourth anniversary, but it isn't really as I started on 22 July 2011. I might do something for 22 July, but this is an ordinary blip day, i.e. I'm recording something to remember today by.