Editing Jacques Lipchitz

{{Short description|Lithuanian-born French cubist sculptor}}
{{Infobox artist
| bgcolour         = 
| name             = Jacques Lipchitz
| image            = File:Jacques Lipchitz, 1935, photograph Rogi André (Rozsa Klein).jpg
| image_size       = 
| caption          = Jacques Lipchitz, 1935, photograph by [[Rogi André]] (Rozsa Klein)
| birth_name       = Chaim Jacob Lipschitz
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1891|8|22|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Druskininkai]], [[Lithuania]]
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1973|5|26|1891|8|22|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Capri]], [[Italy]]
| nationality      = [[France|French]], [[United States of America|American]]
| field            = [[sculpting]]
| training         = [[École des Beaux-Arts]]
| movement         = [[Cubism]], [[School of Paris]]
| works            = 
| patrons          = 
| awards           = 
}}
'''Jacques Lipchitz''' ({{OldStyleDate|22 August|1891|10 August}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.answers.com/search|title=Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions|website=Answers.com}}</ref>{{spaced ndash}}26 May 1973<ref name="Times">{{cite news |title=Jacques Lipchitz, Sculptor, 81, Dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/05/28/archives/jacques-lipchitz-sculptor-81-dead-jacques-lipchitz-sculptor-dead.html |access-date=17 July 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=28 May 1973 |language=en}}</ref>) was a Lithuanian-born French-American [[Cubism|Cubist]] sculptor. Lipchitz retained highly figurative and legible components in his work leading up to 1915–16, after which naturalist and descriptive elements were muted, dominated by a synthetic style of [[Crystal Cubism]]. In 1920 Lipchitz held his first [[Solo show (art exhibition)|solo exhibition]], at [[Léonce Rosenberg]]'s Galerie L'Effort Moderne in Paris where he was counted as part of the [[School of Paris]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jacques Lipchitz and the School of Paris |url=https://www.marlboroughgallerylondon.com/exhibition/lipchitz-and-the-school-of-paris |access-date=2023-11-26 |website=www.marlboroughgallerylondon.com |language=en}}</ref> Fleeing the Nazis he moved to the US and settled in New York City and eventually Hastings-on-Hudson. While in the US, he created a number of his best-known works, including the outdoor sculptures ''The'' ''Song of the Vowels'', ''[[Birth of the Muses]]'', and ''[[Bellerophon Taming Pegasus]]'', the last of which was completed after his death.

==Life and career==
Jacques Lipchitz was born Chaim Jacob Lipschitz, in a [[Lithuanian Jews|Litvak]] family, son of a [[building contractor]] in [[Druskininkai]], [[Lithuania]], then within the [[Russian Empire]]. He studied at Vilnius grammar school and Vilnius Art School. Under the influence of his father he studied engineering in 1906–1909, but soon after, supported by his mother he moved to Paris (1909) to study at the [[École des Beaux-Arts]] and the [[Académie Julian]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NS_ZFZjfNHAC&dq=Acad%C3%A9mie+Julian&pg=PA158|title=Sculpture at the Corcoran: Photographs by David Finn|first1=David|last1=Finn|first2=Susan Joy|last2=Slack|date=March 21, 2002|publisher=Ruder Finn Press|isbn=9780972011914 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

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]]''.

Living in this environment, Lipchitz soon began to create [[Cubist sculpture]]. In 1912 he exhibited at the [[Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts|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. In 1922 he was commissioned by the [[Barnes Foundation]] in Merion, Pennsylvania to execute seven bas-reliefs and two sculptures.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Lipchitz and the Avant-Garde: From Paris to New York|last=Helfenstein|first=Josef|publisher=University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign|year=2001|isbn=0-295-98187-3|pages=40–41}}</ref>

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.

In 1924–25 Lipchitz became a French citizen through [[naturalization]] and married Berthe Kitrosser. With the [[Nazi Germany|German]] occupation of France during [[World War II]], and the deportation of Jews to the Nazi [[extermination camp|death camps]], Lipchitz had to flee France. With the assistance of the American journalist [[Varian Fry]] in [[Marseille]], he escaped the Nazi regime and went to the United States. There, he eventually settled in [[Hastings-on-Hudson, New York]].

[[File:Jacques Lipchitz, 1917, L'homme à la mandoline, 80 cm, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou.jpg|thumb|upright|Jacques Lipchitz, 1917, ''L'homme à la mandoline'', 80 cm]]
He was one of 250 sculptors who exhibited in the [[3rd Sculpture International|Third Sculpture International Exhibition]] held at the [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]] in the summer of 1949. He has been identified among seventy of those sculptors in a photograph ''Life'' magazine published that was taken at the exhibition. In 1954 a Lipchitz retrospective traveled from [[The Museum of Modern Art]] in New York to the [[Walker Art Center]] in Minneapolis and [[The Cleveland Museum of Art]]. In 1959, his series of small bronzes ''To the Limit of the Possible'' was shown at Fine Arts Associates in New York.

In his later years Lipchitz became more involved in his Jewish faith, even referring to himself as a "religious Jew" in an interview in 1970.<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/b0bbbc60-02cf-0131-6bc1-58d385a7bbd0 | title= (text) Jacques Lipchitz, (1970) |author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |access-date=September 4, 2018 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lennox, and Tilden Foundation}}</ref> He began abstaining from work on [[Shabbat]] and put on [[Tefillin]] daily, at the urging of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, [[Menachem Schneerson|Rabbi Menachem Schneerson]].<ref name="villa-camp">{{cite news |last1=Margolin |first1=Dovid |title=Sculptor Jacques Lipchitz's Tuscan Villa Turned Jewish Summer Camp |url=https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/4100461/jewish/Sculptor-Jacques-Lipchitzs-Tuscan-Villa-Turned-Jewish-Summer-Camp.htm |access-date=4 September 2018 |date=7 August 2018}}</ref>

Beginning in 1963 he returned to Europe for several months of each year and worked in [[Pietrasanta]], Italy. He developed a close friendship with fellow sculptor, [[Fiore de Henriquez]]. In 1972 his autobiography, co-authored with [[H. Harvard Arnason]], was published on the occasion of an exhibition of his sculpture at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in New York.

==Death and legacy==
Jacques Lipchitz died in [[Capri]], Italy.<ref name="Times" /> A contingent including Rabbi [[Gershon Mendel Garelik]] flew with his body to Jerusalem for the burial.<ref name="burial-lubavitch">{{cite news |title=Lipchitz Is Buried in JerUsalem With Lubavitcher Hasidic Rite |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/05/30/archives/lipchitz-is-buried-in-jerusalem-with-lubavitcher-hasidic-rite.html |access-date=10 May 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=30 May 1973}}</ref>

His Tuscan Villa Bozio was donated to [[Chabad-Lubavitch]] in Italy and currently hosts an annual [[Jewish summer camp]] in its premises.<ref name="villa-camp" />

==Selected works==
[[File:Amedeo Modigliani - Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Amedeo Modigliani]], 1916, ''[[Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz]]'']]
*''Drawing of a sculpture'' – 1916
*''Bather'' – 1916–17
*''Sailor with Guitar'' – 1917
*''Woman with Book'' – 1918, at [[Carleton College]]
*''Bather, bronze'' – 1923–1925
*''Reclining Nude with Guitar'' – 1928, a prime example of Cubism
*''Dancer with Veil'' – 1928
*''Dancer'' – 1929
*''The Song of the Vowels'' – (''Le Chant des Voyelles''), – 1931 cast bronze sculptures at [[Cornell University]]; [[Princeton University]]; [[UCLA]]; [[Stanford University]]; [[Kykuit|Kykuit Estate Gardens]] (New York), [[Paris, France|Paris]], and the [[Kröller-Müller Museum]] (Netherlands)
*''Bull and Condor'' – 1932
*''Bust of a Woman'' – 1932
*''David and Goliath'' – 1933
*''Embracing Figures'' – 1941
*''Prometheus Strangling the Vulture'' – 1944
*''[[Birth of the Muses]]'' 1944–1950, [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT) campus, Cambridge, Massachusetts
*''Rescue II''- 1947
*''Mother and Child'' – 1949 at the [[Honolulu Museum of Art]]
*''Descent of the Spirit'' - 1959
*''[[John F. Kennedy Memorial, London]]'' - 1965. This was originally on [[Marylebone Road]] but from 2019 has been in the lobby of the [[International Students House, London]] at 229 [[Great Portland Street]]
*''Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://academics.d.umn.edu/about-umd/campus-history/umds-125th-anniversary/timeline|title=Timeline|last=hlieberm|date=2019-10-23|website=Academics|language=en|access-date=2020-01-21}}</ref> ''- 1965 at the [[University of Minnesota Duluth]]''
*''[[Bellerophon Taming Pegasus]]: Large Version'' – 1966–1977, begun in 1966 and arrived at [[Columbia Law School]] in pieces for assembly in 1977<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.columbia.edu/media_inquiries/news_events/2007/august07/sculptures|title=Flying Horses, Tightrope Walkers and Other Campus Icons|website=Columbia Law School|access-date=2019-06-18|archive-date=2019-06-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190618083743/https://www.law.columbia.edu/media_inquiries/news_events/2007/august07/sculptures|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*''[[Peace on Earth (Lipchitz)|Peace on Earth]]'' – 1967–1969
*''Government of the People'' – 1976

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="170px" heights="170px">
File:Jacques Lipchitz, 1914, Acrobat on Horseback (Acrobate à cheval).jpg|Jacques Lipchitz, 1914, ''Acrobat on Horseback'' (''Acrobate à cheval'')
File:Jacques Lipchitz, 1918, Still Life, bas relief, stone.jpg|Jacques Lipchitz, 1918, ''Instruments de musique'' (''Still Life''), bas relief, stone
File:Jacques Lipchitz, 1918, Le Guitariste (The Guitar Player).jpg|Jacques Lipchitz, 1918, ''Le Guitariste'' (''The Guitar Player'')
File:Jacques Lipchitz, 1919, Pierrot. Published in Action, Cahiers Individualistes De Philosophie Et D’art, July 1920.jpg|Jacques Lipchitz, 1919, ''Pierrot''
File:Jacques Lipchitz, 1919-20, Harlequin with Clarinet.jpg|Jacques Lipchitz, 1919–20, ''Harlequin with Clarinet''
File:Jacques Lipchitz, 1920, Harlequin with Clarinet.jpg|Jacques Lipchitz, 1920, ''Harlequin with Clarinet''
File:Jacques Lipchitz, 1920, Man with Guitar.jpg|Jacques Lipchitz, 1920, ''Man with Guitar''
File:Jacques Lipchitz, 1920, Portrait of Jean Cocteau.jpg|Jacques Lipchitz, 1920, ''Portrait of [[Jean Cocteau]]''
File:'Mother and Child', bronze sculpture by --Jacques Lipchitz--, 1930, --Honolulu Academy of Arts--.jpg|''Mother and Child'', 1930, [[Honolulu Museum of Art]]
File:Lipshitz 1976 Philly.JPG|''Government of the People'', bronze sculpture by Jacques Lipchitz, dedicated 1976, Philadelphia
File:Jacques Lipchitz, Birth of the Muses (1944-1950), MIT Campus.JPG|''[[Birth of the Muses]]'', bronze, 1944–1950, In memory of [[Jerome Wiesner]] - in the permanent collection of the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]
File:Spirit Enterprise 4.JPG|''The Spirit of Enterprise'', 1960, in [[Fairmount Park]], [[Philadelphia]]
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Crystal Cubism]]

==References==
*Arnason H. Harvard and Jacques Lipchitz. ''My Life in Sculpture''. New York: Viking Press, 1972.
* Hammacher, Abraham Marie, ''Jacques Lipchitz, His Sculpture'', New York, H.N. Abrams, 1961.
* Hope, Henry Radford, ''The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz'', New York, Plantin press, printed for the trustees of the Museum of Modern Art, 1954.
* Lipchitz, Jacques, ''My Life in Sculpture'', New York, Viking Press, 1972.
* Stott, Deborah A., ''Jacques Lipchitz and Cubism'', New York, Garland Pub., 1978.
* Van Bork, Bert, ''Jacques Lipchitz, The Artist at Work'', New York, Crown Publishers, 1966.
* Wilkinson, Alan G., ''Jacques Lipchitz, A Life in Sculpture'', Toronto, Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1989.
* Dr Catherine Putz, ''Jacques Lipchitz: Master Drawings'', Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, 2009.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Jacques Lipchitz}}
* [http://www.photo.rmn.fr/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2CO5PC0SXG8TX&SMLS=1&RW=962&RH=584 Jacques Lipchitz, Agence Photographique de la Réunion des musées nationaux et du Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées]
* [http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/bruce-bassett-papers-relating-to-jacques-lipchitz-15856 Bruce Bassett papers relating to Jacques Lipchitz, circa 1961–2001] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928193016/http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/bruce-bassett-papers-relating-to-jacques-lipchitz-15856 |date=2012-09-28 }} from the Smithsonian [[Archives of American Art]]
* [https://museum.imj.org.il/jacques-lipchitz/en/questions  "Ask Jacques Lipchitz a Question: Jacques Lipchitz interviews during the summers of 1970–1972"], Bruce W. Bassett, interviewer and video producer. The [[Israel Museum]], Jerusalem donated by Hanno D. Mott, New York for the family of Jacques Lipchitz. Interactive online version published 2010
* [http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/jacques-lipchitz/ Lipchitz, Jacques,  Encyclopedia Treccani.it (Italian)]
* {{FrenchSculptureCensus}}

{{Jacques Lipchitz|state=expanded}}
{{Cubism}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lipchitz, Jacques}}
[[Category:1891 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Druskininkai]]
[[Category:People from Grodnensky Uyezd]]
[[Category:Lithuanian Jews]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France]]
[[Category:French people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:French emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:20th-century American printmakers]]
[[Category:20th-century American sculptors]]
[[Category:20th-century American male artists]]
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[[Category:Modern sculptors]]
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[[Category:Sculptures by Jacques Lipchitz| 01]]
[[Category:Académie Julian alumni]]
[[Category:People of Montmartre]]
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