Edward Melcarth

Edward Melcarth (January 31, 1914 – December 13, 1973), was born as Edward Epstein in Louisville, Kentucky to Eva Epstein (born Ehrmann) and Edward "Eddie" Epstein Sr., a wealthy Jewish family. His grandfather was a noted distiller and liquor dealer, Hilmar Ehrmann and he was the nephew of Herbert B. Ehrmann and Sara R. Ehrmann. After his father died in February 1920, his mother, whose family discouraged her from becoming an opera singer, remarried to Sir Reginald Mitchell Banks, KC, and Member of Parliament for Swindon, in 1926. Eva and Edward then moved to the U.K. to live with Reginald, and Edward spent the next decade in Europe. Edward changed his last name to Melcarth on February 10, 1936, after he rejected his religion, to reflect that of the Phoenician god Melqart. He was an openly gay, Jewish, and communist artist who preferred to work in painting, sculpture, and photography.

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