lipchitz – FTN-blog

Renowned for his mastery of Cubist elements in depicting figures, portraits, and still lifes made of bronze or stone, Jacques Lipchitz rose to fame as a Lithuanian-born French sculptor. Mingling with the likes of Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and Juan Gris in the esteemed Montmarte neighborhood of Paris, Lipchitz’s artistic genius flourished. Born Chaim Jacob Lipchitz on August 22, 1891 in Druskinikai, Lithuania to a Litvak (Lithuanian Jewish) family, the burgeoning artist honed his craft at the esteemed École des Beaux-Arts and Académie Julian in Paris. With the advent of Nazi occupation, Lipchitz sought refuge in the United States during World War II. In 1954, he achieved milestone success with a retrospective exhibition, beginning at The Museum of Modern Art in New York and subsequently travelling to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and finally to the Cleveland Museum of Art. To this day, Lipchitz’s works can be found in prestigious collections such as the Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The artistic legend passed away on May 16, 1973 in Capri, Italy.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice Lipchitz titles available

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The importance of Lipchitz can not be underestimated, because he was was probably the first who worked out cubism in 3D. His cubist sculptures are highly recognizable and because the artist has a strong following in the Netherlands, where he had in the late 50’s some Stedelijk MUseum presentations curated by Willem Sandberg, his works can be found in most of the large museums in the Netherlands. Paris is where he studied and found soul mates .

It was there, in the artistic communities of Montmartre and Montparnasse, that he joined a group of artists that included Juan Gris and Pablo Picasso as well as where his friend, Amedeo Modigliani, painted Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz.

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Living in this environment, Lipchitz soon began to create Cubist sculpture. In 1912 he exhibited at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and the Salon d’Automne with his first solo show held at Léonce Rosenberg‘s Galerie L’Effort Moderne in Paris in 1920. With artistic innovation at its height, in the 1920s he experimented with abstract forms he called transparent sculptures. Later he developed a more dynamic style, which he applied with telling effect to bronze compositions of figures and animals.

For more publications on cubism and Lipschitz please visit www. ftn-books.com