Marlborough Gallery - The Estate of Jacques Lipchitz Graphics Artwork

Biography

A French sculptor and printmaker born in Russia in 1891, Jacques Lipchitz grew up in Druskieniki, Lithuania. He went to Paris in 1909 as a student to learn stonecutting and began a career toeing the line between symbolism and complete abstraction, basing his imagery upon mythological and liturgical texts. He eventually settled in the United States in 1941, and throughout his long and prolific career developed an extraordinary range of stylistic and iconographic diversity.

Lipchitz was one of the major figures in Paris when the principles of cubism were being formulated. Tremendously influenced by Picasso's revolutionary ideas, Lipchitz's iconographic sculptures were the three-dimensional counterpart of Picasso's paintings. This connection placed Lipchitz in a category often referred to as "the essential Cubists." In addition to being widely known as a cubist sculptor, Lipchitz explored his subjects in both representational and nonrepresentational styles, including the Abstract Expressionist technique. The boldness and diversity that characterize Lipchitz's sculptures carry over to his prints as well. These traits, in combination with a dynamic use of color, create the signature style of this twentieth-century master.

Lipchitz's works are included in numerous pubic collections worldwide including Centro Museo de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel; Tokushima Modern Art Museum, Tokushima, Japan; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York.