Chaim Lipchitz Jacob

Chaim Jacob Lipchitz (born the August 22nd 1891 in Druskieniki in Lithuania - died the May 26th 1973 with Capri) is a naturalized Sculpteur French then American.

Its life

It is able at Paris in 1909 without to have followed any artistic formation. It follows the courses of the École of the Art schools a time then it attends the Académie Julian in Montparnasse. In addition, it is interested in the avant-garde cubist.

In 1913, it creates the woman with the snake and the dancer who are her true first released works of the traditions of the XIXe century. the woman with the snake is a harmonious assembly of abstracted elements, where the center for example is evoked without ambiguity by a cone; the unit is as of the first glance a work cubist. For the dancer , Lipchitz uses even less curved surfaces by privileging the plans which are cut to right angle. These two works place Lipchitz among the large sculptors cubists who were Henri Matisse, Alexander Archipenko, Juan Gris or Henri Laurens. Filiation with other major sculptors of the time, like Umberto Boccioni, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Pablo Picasso or Constantin Brâncuşi, is less obvious well that it knew their works, even attended these artists.

In 1915, it signs its first contract with a merchant of art (Leonce Rosenberg). It exposes Homme to the guitar which creates sensation. This time, Lipchitz produced a very abstract work where the first glance clearly does not recognize the parts which constitute the body of the man, but it releases from the unit a force which one perceives only in the chiefs of work. It does not have which 24 years but it is already a Master.

1920: first personal exposure at L. Rosenberg. Lipchitz at that time produces the very realistic portrait of Gertude Stein and also of the statues of a cubism abstracted like the series from the bathers . It breaks its contract with L. Rosenberg which ensured a good income to him, in order to be able to produce what it wants and not what one imposes to him. It will follow of the financial problems during several years.

1924 - 25: he becomes French citizen and Marie with Berthe Kirosser (which he knows since 1918). He makes an outline for the sacrifice which precedes posterior works: abandonment of the plans which are cut to right angle, surfaces nonsmooth, complex form that only one glance cannot seize. But the essence of its production remains cubist.

1930: exposure of 100 works to the Jeanne gallery To rough-hew. The smooth plans cutting itself to right angle are from now on abandoned with the profit of surface curves and complexes (see for example the harpist Collection Marlborough in Vaduz).

1935: first important exposure to New York.

1938: The forms of certain sculptures rise outgrowths of strong volume. ( the removal of Europe in Vaduz or Toward has new World Pepsi Cola Collection). The production of smoother works is continued however.

1941: he emigrates with New York.

1946: return in France. But France does not offer the same possibilities for the sculpture as the United States; his wife prefers Paris in New York. They divorce.

1948: he marries Yulla Halberstadt, sculptor.

1952: the fire of its workshop in New York destroys the major part of its American work.

1954: great retrospective with MOMA in New York.

1958: he becomes American citizen - great exposure to Amsterdam.

1961 - 62: it settles close to Carrare in Italy.

1963: first visit in Israel.

1970 - 71: great retrospective exposure to Berlin and other towns of Europe, like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

1972: great exposure to the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Publication of its autobiography My life in sculpture .

May 26th 1973: death with Capri. The May 29th, it is buried with Jerusalem.

Where to see works of Jacques Lipchitz?

nonexhaustive List

On the Net

bather (1923-25)
sacrifice (1948-58)
Prométhé strangling the vulture (1949), Mineapolis with that of Philadelphia

and also on

in France

marine with the guitar (1914), Center Pompidou in Paris
the love of life (1927), Collection of the Viscount of Noailles, Hyères
portrait of Gertrude Stein (1920), Center Pompidou Paris
portrait of Gericault (1933), Museum of Beautiful arts, Rouen
Notre Dame de Liesse (1946), Notre Dame Church of Any Grace, plate of ESA, Passy (Haute-Savoie)
Bust of Raymond Radiguet, 1920, bronzes, Musée of the Art schools de Ruen.

in the Netherlands

figure (1926), Rijksmuseum Kröller Müller, Otterlo
the couple (1929), Rijksmuseum Kröller Müller, Otterlo
head (1932), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

in the United Kingdom

Notre Dame de Liesse (1953), The Abbey, the Iona Community, Argil, Scotland

in Lichtenstein

very many works with the Marlborough Collection in Vaduz

in the United States

head (1915), Hirschhorn Museum in Washington
detachable figure (1915), Cleveland Museum off Art
man with the guitar (1916), MOMA, New York
bather (1917), Barnes Foundation
mother and child (1929), Cleveland Museum off Art
the return of the child , (1941) Guggenheim Museum, New York
blossoming (1941), MOMA, New York
Prométhé strangling the vulture (1949), Philadelphia Museum off Art
Daniel Greysolon, sior of the Lute (195), University off Minnesota, Duluth
peace one earth (1967), Los Angeles County Music Center

in Canada

Hagar (1948), Art Gallery off Toronto

Random links: