Jacob Epstein of Epstein's early commissions is "Oscar Wilde's tomb" in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, "which was condemned as indecent and at one point was covered in tarpaulin by the French police." Between 1913 and 1915, Epstein was associated with the short-lived Vorticism movement and produced one of his best known sculptures "The Rock Drill". In 1915, John Quinn, wealthy American collector and patron to the modernists, bought some Epstein sculptures to add to his private collection. In 1916, Epstein was commissioned by Viscount Tredegar to produce a bronze head of Newport poet W. H. Davies. The bronze, regarded by many as
Jacob Epstein the smaller of the two figures represented on "Day". But the controversy affected his commissions for public work which dried up until World War II. Between the late 1930s and the mid-1950s, numerous works by Epstein were exhibited in Blackpool. "Adam", "Consummatum Est", "Jacob and the Angel and Genesis", and other works, were initially displayed in an old drapery shop surrounded by red velvet curtains. The crowds were ushered in at the cost of a shilling by a barker on the street. After a small tour of American fun fairs, the works were returned to Blackpool and were exhibited in