Glass Wall Around Oscar Wilde's Tomb: The Strange History of Epstein's Sphinx
At Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, Oscar Wilde's tomb, designed as a marble sphinx by Jacob Epstein, is now shielded by a glass barrier to deter kissing. Wilde passed away on November 30, 1900, and was first interred in Cimetière de Bagneux. In 1909, his literary executor, Robbie Ross, commissioned Epstein to craft the tomb, which features a winged sphinx with male genitalia. Following its installation, authorities obscured the sculpture due to its provocative elements. Epstein, with the help of artist Nina Hamnett, consistently removed the cover. In 1914, Aleister Crowley protested the obscuration, but Epstein renounced it. A bronze butterfly plaque was added that year but later vanished. The glass barrier was erected in 2011 after lipstick kisses led to damage.
Key facts
- Oscar Wilde died in Paris on November 30, 1900, aged 46.
- Jacob Epstein sculpted the tomb, a marble sphinx with hermaphroditic features.
- French customs classified the sculpture as a block of marble, requiring a £120 import fee.
- Parisian authorities covered the tomb with a tarpaulin due to the male genitalia.
- Aleister Crowley staged a protest in 1913 to unveil the sculpture.
- In 1914, a bronze butterfly plaque was added as a cache-sexe.
- The testicles disappeared in 1961; their whereabouts remain unknown.
- A glass barrier was installed in 2011 to protect the tomb from lipstick kisses.
Entities
Artists
- Oscar Wilde
- Jacob Epstein
- Robbie Ross
- Eric Gill
- Pablo Picasso
- Amedeo Modigliani
- Nina Hamnett
- Constantin Brancusi
- Aleister Crowley
- Leon Johnson
- Lord Alfred Douglas
- James McNeill Whistler
- Merlin Holland
- Napoleon Sarony
- Maurice Gilbert
- Charles Ricketts
- Evelyn Silber
- Victoria C. Roskams
Institutions
- Père Lachaise Cemetery
- Cimetière de Bagneux
- British Medical Association
- Coventry Cathedral
- Trade Union Congress
- Westminster Abbey
- Order of the Golden Dawn
- The Times
- Royal Academy of Arts
- Library of Congress
- The New Art Gallery, Walsall
- Ransom Center Magazine
- University of Texas
- Bibliothèque nationale de France
- Public Statues and Sculpture Association
- The Irish Times
- The Guardian
Locations
- Paris
- France
- London
- United Kingdom
- Saint-Germain-des-Prés
- Old Bailey
- Algiers
- Egypt
- Assyria
- Greece
- Washington DC
- Walsall
- Coventry