Lipchitz, Jacques

Lipchitz, Jacques (b Druskieniki [now Druskininkai], 10 [22] Aug. 1891; d Capri, 26 May 1973). Lithuanian-born sculptor who became a French citizen in 1925 and an American citizen in 1958. After studying engineering in Lithuania he moved to Paris in 1909; by about 1912 he was part of a circle of avant-garde artists including Matisse, Modigliani, and Picasso, and from 1914 he became one of the first sculptors to apply the principles of Cubism in three dimensions (Man with Guitar, 1916, MoMA, New York). During the 1920s his style changed, as he became preoccupied with open forms and the interpenetration of solids and voids, and from about 1930 he began to use allegorical subject matter drawn from the Bible or classical mythology. In 1941 he moved to the USA, where he returned to greater solidity of form, but with a desire for greater spirituality. At times the tortured, bloated forms of his late work look rather like inflated shrubbery, as in Prometheus Strangling the Vulture (1944–53, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis). His output included several large public commissions, for example Peace on Earth (1967–9, Los Angeles Music Center). This, like most of his work, is in bronze, but he also made stonecarvings. In 1972 he published an autobiography, My Life in Sculpture, coinciding with a major exhibition of his work at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, entitled ‘Jacques Lipchitz: His Life in Sculpture’. He died on holiday in Capri (he usually spent several months each year in Italy) and was buried in Jerusalem (he first visited Israel in 1963 and regarded it as his spiritual home).