Sir Jacob Epstein 1880 -1959
Ellen Jansen, also known as Nellie Van (Ellen von Volkenburg) 1881-1975 Actress and theatrical producer.
Bronze
Executed in 1931.
Provenance:
William Agnew, Old Bond Street until 1982
Judith Baron-Cohen, dec. 2008.
Literature;
Epstein. Catalogue raisonne by Dr Evelyn Silber. Illustrated.
Re Ellen von Volkenburg: The New York Times, 28th March 1920.
The sitter is Ellen Jansen, (stage name), an actress from the 1920s and 30s. She was married in 1913 to a theatrical producer playwright and actor, Maurice Browne 1881-1955. She was Ellen von Volkenburg from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
She had a theatre in London and taught dramatics with emphasis on Shakespeare . She started Paul Robeson in Othello in London. They produced plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Shaw and others. They produced for Broadway, Seattle and towns of the Mid-West USA. A theatre was built for them as a joint project with the Seattle municipality, where they had an endowment from Seattle for a five year period.
Documents relating to the founding of The Cornish College of The Arts in Seattle by Nellie Cornish in 1914 states, " She recruited Maurice Browne (1881-1955) and Ellen Van Volkenburg Browne (1882-1978), founders of the Little Theater Movement in America, responsible for the popularisation of dramatic arts across the country, with many major cities having their own "Little Theatre" making acting and playhouse accessible to ordinary people.
A copy of the sale certificate and statement of authentication by Dr Evelyn Silber accompanies the bronze.
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