Rock Drill (Jacob Epstein) Rock Drill (Jacob Epstein) Rock Drill (c. 1913–1915) and the associated Torso in Metal from Rock Drill (c. 1913–1916) are Jacob Epstein's most radical sculptures. "Rock Drill" comprises a plaster figure perched on top of an actual rock drill. The combination of an industrial rock drill and the carved plaster figure makes the artwork an example of a "Readymade" created at the same time as Marcel Duchamp's "Bicycle Wheel" (1913). A 1974 reconstruction, by Ken Cook and Ann Christopher, is part of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery's collection. "Rock Drill" has been heralded as embodying the spirit of "radical
Jacob Epstein (banker) Polish noblemen. Jacob Epstein (banker) Jacob Epstein (1771 – 16 August 1843) was a Polish banker and philanthropist of Jewish descent. In early manhood he went to Warsaw, where he succeeded in amassing a large fortune and became one of the most prominent figures in the old Polish capital. He was the first Jew in Warsaw to discard the old-style Jewish garb and to dress himself and his family in European fashion. In the November Uprising of 1830–31 Epstein took the part of his oppressed countrymen, and was an officer in the insurrectionary army; but later he seems to have