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. Melcarth's circle included famous art collector Peggy Guggenheim (with whom Melcarth designed her famous 'butterfly framed' sunglasses that were popularized as "bat glasses" by Maila Nurmi as Vampira), as well as notable art collector Malcolm Forbes, who would was a collector throughout Melcarth's career and went on to also purchase the remaining collection of Melcarth's artwork after his death.

While he presented himself as openly homosexual, he did marry Joan Beer, a woman also known as Hansi Kostolany, in Paris during the summer of 1939. The couple eventually divorced in 1944 and he did not remarry. During World War II, he served as a seaman in the United States Merchant Marine.

Later in life, Melcarth moved to Venice, Italy where he lived until passing away at age 59 on Friday, December 13, 1973. His obituary was published in the New York Times.