Jacques Lipschitz Biography
Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973) born in Druskininkai in Lithuania, was one of the greatest abstract sculptors of the 20th century, best known for his still lifes, portraits and Cubist figures. With a fiery emotional intensity, Lipchitz favored bronze and stone and explored mythological, biblical and universal human subjects. While his Cubist-era paintings demonstrate a technical understanding of line, plane, and volume, Lipchitz transitioned to a more figurative and emotional manner in the latter stages of his career.
In Paris he entered the cultural scene of Montmartre and socialized with artists such as Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, Diego Rivera and Amedeo Modiglian. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and Académie Julian and began producing his first Cubist pieces in 1913.
In the mid-20th century, Lipchitz began to move away from Cubism and towards a more figurative and emotionally expressive style. In 1937 his enormous Prometheus Strangling the Vulture was exhibited at the Paris Universal Exhibition. Lipchitz, due to the Nazi occupation, flees and obtains asylum in New York. In 1946 he was named Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur and in 1954 the Museum of Modern Art in New York honored him with a major retrospective.
Lipchitz died in 1973 in Capri, Italy, and was buried in Jerusalem. Today, his work is collected by numerous institutions around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York; The Art Institute of Chicago; Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; Tate Modern in London and the Center Pompidou in Paris.
