Beloosesky Gallery is interested in purchasing sculpture by Jacques Lipchitz.
Please call (917) 749-4557 or email us at info@beloosesky.com
Jacques Lipchitz, the eldest son of a wealthy Jewish contractor, was born in Druskieniki, Lithuania in 1891. His interest in modeling and drawing was evident when he was in grade school. At the age of 18, and against the wishes of his father to become an engineer, he departed for Paris to enroll in anatomy and stone carving classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts - at the encouragement of his mother and uncle. He also studied at the Academie Julian and the Academie Colarossi.
In 1914, Lipchitz traveled with Diego Rivera to Madrid and Majorca, where he was introduced to Picasso, Max Jacob, Juan Gris, Modigliani, and other artists in the Cubist circle. However, his greatest influence came from his interest in art history, providing him with an unlimited source of imagery.
Lipchitz applied theories of mathematics and proportion to the concepts of Braque and Picasso, as did many second generation Cubists. A relatively new movement in art was being created, where curves, planes, lines, and their intersections and overlapping would form new relationships. His works display a lifetime of continuous growth and exploration, spanning the Cubism style to Mannerism, and subjects from non-committal to those that carry profound visual symbolism. Although he was a leader in innovation and experimentation, his work never embraced total abstraction and never tried to escape from the reality of art as symbolic expression.
In the mid-1920s, Lipchitz began making sculptures in a distinctively new style. His sculptures were frequently constructed from bronze and engaged new ways of exploring light and space. These new works, called transparents, provided a greater emphasis on utilizing negative space. Although unpopular at the time, the works and ideas behind the transparents became popular with Picasso and Juan Gris.
After 1925, Lipchitz departed from the Cubist manner and began to soften the geometric angularity of his pieces into curvilinear, openwork sculptures whose expressive subjects were drawn from ancient mythology and the Bible. He achieved naturalism in these works that can be seen in Woman Leaning on Elbow.
In 1941, Varian Fry was instrumental in facilitating Lipchitz to flee Vichy, France, to the United States -- during the German invasion of France. Lipchitz relocated in New York where he continued to fill commissions from all over the world including The Spirit of Enterprise, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia; Notre Dame de Liesse, Assy in Haute-Savoie; and his most famous work commissioned for the 1937 Paris Exposition Universelle entitled "Prometheus". (In the myth, the gods punish Prometheus for bringing fire to humans by turning him into stone and allowing a vulture to peck at his liver. In the piece, however, Prometheus is shown unchained, strangling the vulture, used as a symbol of ignorance.) In 1951, he presented Fry with his completed Embracing Figures. In 1952, a fire destroyed and claimed most of Lipchitz' work.
In 1955, he began producing his celebrated semi-automatics-masses of clay or plasticine, which he would first mold underwater using only his sense of touch.
Examples of his work can be seen in the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, and the Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania.
Biography from the Archives of AskART
TIMELINE
1891 Chaim Jacob Lipchitz born on August 22, in Druskieniki, Lithuania. He is the first of six children to Abraham Lipchitz, a young building contractor, and Rachael Leah Krinsky
1906–1909 Attends high school in Vilna
1909 Arrives in Paris
1909 First prize - sculpture, Académie Julian, Paris, France
1909–1910 Studies with Jean-Antoine Ingalbert at the École des Beaux-Arts as a 'free pupil'
1913 Receives praise for Woman and Gazelles exhibited at the Salon d'Automne. Meets Picasso and other Cubist painters through Diego Rivera.
1913 Creates his first proto Cubist sculptures. Attends the infamous premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Rites of Spring.
1915 Meets and lives with poet Berthe Kitrosser whom he later marries
1916 Signs a contract with the dealer Léonce Rosenberg who gives him a monthly stipend. Becomes a close friend of Juan Gris
1924 Becomes a French citizen
1926 Joins the gallery of Jeanne Bucher
1930 First large retrospective exhibition of 100 works is held at Jean Bucher’s Galérie de la Renaissance, Paris. The show is favorably received. Begins to explore biblical themes and the image of mother and child.
1934 Exhibits a large scale plaster of David and Goliath at the Salon des Indépendents, Paris. His mother dies.
1935 From August through October, he takes a trip to Russia to visit family. The artist has his first important exhibition in the United States, held at the Brummer Gallery, New York, but is unable to attend.
1936–1937 The French government commissions him to create a monumental plaster sculpture (Prometheus Strangling the Vulture) for the entrance to the Science Pavilion at the Paris World’s Fair, the same exposition where Picasso's Guernica and Gonzáles's Monserrat are shown in the Spanish Pavilion
1938 Renews acquaintance with Gertrude Stein and produces two bronze portraits
1940 In May he flees with Berthe to Toulouse when the Germans occupy Paris
1941 He seeks asylum in the United States and with the help of his American friends, he arrives in New York on June 13. Joseph Brummer, now exclusively dealing in antiques, introduces the artist to Curt Valentin of the Buchholz Gallery. Mr. Valentin, who becomes his New York dealer, immediately begins to sell his work. He rents a studio in New York City on Washington Square South.
1942 Begins to exhibit regularly at the Buchholz Gallery
1946 Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, French Republic, Paris, France
1948 Married Yulla Halberstadt. His only child, Lolya Rachel, is born
1952 George D. Widener Memorial Gold Medal Award - Prometheus Strangling the Vulture, Pennsylvania Academy of Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1955 Nôtre Dame de Liesse is completed for Nôtre Dame de Toute Grâce at Assy
1958 Receives Creative Arts Award from Brandeis University
1961–1962. He begins to be represented by the Otto Gerson Gallery, New York (later the Marlborough Gerson and presently the Marlborough Gallery, Inc.).
1963 Travels for the first time to Israel
1965 Receives an award for cultural achievement from Boston University and is made an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York
1966 Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, exhibits Images from Italy. Receives Gold Medal from the Academy of Arts and Letters, New York
1969 Receives the Einstein Commemorative Award of Merit from the Medical Center of Yeshiva University, New York, and Medal of Achievement from American Institute of Architects.
1971 The artist travels to Israel for the retrospective exhibit at the Tel Aviv Museum which inaugurates the new museum
1973 The artist dies on the island of Capri and is later buried on Har Hamenuhot, Jerusalem
EXHIBITIONS
2009–2010 Jacques Lipchitz: De la Joie de Vivre al Árbol de la Vida, Museo de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain (solo)
2009 Innovations in the Third Dimension: Sculpture of Our Times, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT
2009 American Artists from the Russian Empire, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2009 Bizarre Perfection, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
2009 La Escultura en la Colección del IVAM, Institut Valencia d’Art Modern, Centro Julio Gonzalez, Valencia, Spain
2009 Jacques Lipchitz: Rétrospective, Le Bellevue, Biarritz, France (solo)
2009 Jacques Lipchitz: Dibujos, Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa, Bilbao, Spain (solo)
2009 The Anatomy of a Sculptor, Ben Uri Gallery, London, England (solo)
2008 Art Videos at the Gallery – Jacques Lipchitz: Portrait of the Artist, Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME (solo)
2008 Encuentros, Jacques Lipchitz y el arte primitivo, Marlborough Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (solo)
2008 Jacques Lipchitz: Sculptures - bas-reliefs et dessins, Marlborough Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco (solo)
2008 American Artists from the Russian Empire, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK; traveled to the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia; State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA
2008 Matisse, Picasso and Modern Art in Paris: The T. Catesby Jones Collections, works from the collections of the University of Virginia Art Museum and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Charlottesville, VA
2008 Paris Portraits: Artists, Friends, and Lovers, The Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT
2007 Jacques Lipchitz: Early Works, Reliefs and Drawings, Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY
2006 Jacques Lipchitz: Interación de Formas, Fundación Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa, Bilbao, Spain (solo)
2005 Jacques Lipchitz: Donation, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain (solo)
2004 Jacques Lipchitz: Sculpture and Drawings 1912 – 1972, Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
2003 Jacques Lipchitz: Dibujos y Esculturas, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain (solo)
2002 Los Dibujos de Lipchitz/ Lipchitz’s Drawings, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain (solo)
2001 Lipchitz and the Avant-Garde: From Paris to New York, Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (solo)
1998 Lipchitz dans les Jardins du Palais Royal, Les Jardins du Palais Royal, Paris, France; traveled to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK (solo)1
1997 Jacques Lipchitz: Escultura 1911-1971, Marlborough Gallery, Madrid, Spain (solo)
1996 Jacques Lipchitz: Sculpture 1910-1940, The Paris Years, Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1993 Jacques Lipchitz: Esculturas, 1913-1972, Galería Marlborough Madrid, Spain (solo)
1993 Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973), Centro de Arte Palacio Almudi Murcia, Spain (solo)
1991–1992 Jacques Lipchitz: From Sketch to Sculpture, Tel Aviv Museum of Art Tel Aviv, Israel (solo)
1989–1990 Jacques Lipchitz: A Life in Sculpture, Art Gallery of Ontario Toronto, Canada & traveling (solo)
1988 Jacques Lipchitz: Esculturas en Bronce, Galería Freites Caracas, Venezuela (solo)
1988 Hommage a Lipchitz: Oeuvres de 1914 a 1963, Galerie Hawan Moss & FIAC '88, Grand Palais Paris, France (solo)
1987 Jacques Lipchitz: The Cubist Period (1913-1930), Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1987 Jacques Lipchitz: Esculturas, Galería Fernando Quintana Bogota, Colombia (solo)
1986–1987 The Lipchitz Gift: Models for Sculpture, The Tate Gallery London, England (solo)
1985 Jacques Lipchitz: Sculptor and Collector, Albert and Vera List Visual Arts Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (solo)
1983 Jacques Lipchitz: Mother and Child, Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, University of Regina, Saskatchewan (solo)
1982 Jacques Lipchitz: Sculptures (Biblical Themes) 1930-1972, Aberbach Fine Art, New York, NY (solo)
1979 Jacques Lipchitz: Small Sculptures, Maquettes and Drawings, 1915-1972, Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1978 Jacques Lipchitz, Galerie Brusberg, Hannover, Germany (solo)
1977 Sculptures and Drawings from the Cubist Epoch, Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1974–1975 Selected Master Drawings of Jacques Lipchitz: 1910 - 1958, Trisolini Gallery of Ohio University, Athens, OH; The Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts; Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY; Marlborough Godard, Toronto, Ontario (solo)
1974 Sculptures by Jacques Lipchitz, Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, TN (solo)
1973 Jacques Lipchitz: Sculptures and Drawings, Marlborough Fine Art, London; traveled as Jacques Lipchitz: Skulpturen und Zeichnungen to Marlborough Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland (solo)
1972 Jacques Lipchitz: His Life in Sculpture, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (solo)
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany
Tate Gallery, London, England
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme, Paris, France
Musée National d’Art Modern, Centre George Pompidou, Paris, France
of Modern Art, New York, NY
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, NY
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Israel Museum and Billy Rose Art Garden, Jerusalem, Israel
Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nancy, France
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX
Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IO
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy
Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, The Netherlands
Hakone Open-Air Museum, Hakone-machi, Japan
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, NY
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Art Institute of Chcago, Chicago, IL
Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
Centro Museo de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH