Lipchitz, Jacques

Lipchitz, Jacques
orig. Chaim Jacob Lipchitz

born Aug. 10, 1891, Druskininkai, Lithuania, Russian Empire
died May 26, 1973, Capri, Italy

Lithuanian-born French sculptor, he was also active in the U.S. Trained as an engineer in Vilnius, he turned to sculpture after moving to Paris in 1909.

His early work was Cubist in style. Around 1925 he began producing a series of works known as "transparents," open-spaced, curvilinear bronzes, such as Harpist (1928), which would greatly influence the course of sculpture in the following quarter-century. After settling near New York City in 1941, he produced such massive works as The Prayer (1943) and Bellerophon Taming Pegasus (1966).

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▪ French artist
original name  Chaim Jacob Lipchitz  
born August 10 [August 22, New Style], 1891, Druskininkai, Lithuania, Russian Empire
died May 26, 1973, Capri, Italy
 Russian-born French sculptor whose style was based on the principles of Cubism; he was a pioneer of nonrepresentational sculpture.

      As a youth, Lipchitz studied engineering in Vilnius, Lithuania. When he moved to Paris in 1909, however, he became fascinated by French avant-garde art, and he began to study sculpture as an avenue to better understand modern art. After a brief term of service (1912–13) in the imperial Russian army, Lipchitz returned to Paris. There the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (Rivera, Diego) introduced him to Pablo Picasso, the painter who (with Georges Braque) had created the Cubist style about 1907. Lipchitz soon began to translate the pictorial experiments of Cubist painters into three-dimensional sculpture, as in Man with Guitar (1916). Lipchitz worked exclusively in solid blocks of material or in low-relief still lifes to simulate the polychromatic prisms of Cubist paintings.

 About 1925 Lipchitz began to produce a series of sculptures collectively known as “transparents.” In these curvilinear bronzes, he incorporated open space into the design, depicting mass by integrating solid with void. Many of the transparents, such as Harpist (1928), were cast from small, fragile cardboard-and-wax constructions. Lipchitz translated some of these smaller pieces into sculptures on a more monumental scale, as in Figure (1926–30). With such transparents as The Couple (1928–29), Lipchitz attempted to express emotion instead of merely addressing formal concerns, as he had in his earlier works.

      By 1941, when he moved to New York City, Lipchitz had established an international reputation. His new interest in spiritual questions coincided with a revived desire to give his pieces solidity, notably in massive works such as The Prayer (1943) and Prometheus Strangling the Vulture II (1944–53). He completed his last large work, Bellerophon Taming Pegasus, in 1966; it was installed at Columbia University in New York City in 1977.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • LIPCHITZ, JACQUES — (Chaim Jacob; 1891–1973), U.S. sculptor. He was born in Druskieniki, Lithuania. He attended school in Bialystok and in 1909 went to Paris, where he adopted the name Jacques. There he studied and became a French citizen in 1925. In 1930 he had a… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

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  • Lipchitz,Jacques — Lip·chitz (lĭpʹshĭts), Jacques. 1891 1973. Russian born French sculptor who was associated with the cubists. His works include Rape of Europa (1941) and Prayer (1943). * * * …   Universalium

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  • Jacques — /zhahk/, n. a male given name, French form of Jacob or James. * * * (as used in expressions) Jacques Fournier Besson Jacques Bossuet Jacques Bénigne Brel Jacques Brissot de Warville Jacques Pierre Callot Jacques Cartier Jacques Chirac Jacques… …   Universalium

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