Sir Jacob Epstein, Torso in Metal from Rock Drill (1913-1914).

摘要

This sculpture looks like a fierce robot storm trooper from some science fiction movie. But this visored, menacing android has no legs; its left shoulder is withered compared to the right and the right forearm and left hand are missing. Inside its armour-like ribcage extending into the abdomen is an embryo. Epstein called it 'the armed sinister figure of today and tomorrow' and it is the second stage of a work originally created by him in 1913 when he was fascinated by mechanization and the machine culture in America and Europe. He had attempted to create a symbol of the new age, a man-robot in plaster straddling a real drill (a phallic extension), which he had bought second hand . He had also considered adding a motor to make the piece move, rather reminiscent of Duchamp's 'ready-made' bicycle . Epstein's Vortex period lasted just 3 years and he never did such abstract work again .