Lithuanian sculptor of Jewish origin, a prominent representative of Cubism, who lived and worked in France, the USA, Israel and Italy.
Jacques Lipchitz was born the first of six children in the family of Abraham Lipchitz, a wealthy building contractor, and Rachel Leach Krinski. His real name was Chaim Jakob. The sculptor took the name Jacques when he moved to France. Lipchitz attended the local Jewish school, the Bialystok Commercial School and the Vilnius Gymnasium. From 1906 to 1909 he studied engineering. However, his main focus was on studying art at the Vilnius Drawing School.
In 1909, unbeknownst to his father, Ž. In the absence of his father's permission, he left for Paris to study art. He was supported by his mother and later by his father. After his father's bankruptcy, he used to deliver fruit at night and worked as a helper for other sculptors.
He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. He attended the Académie Julian, the studio of the sculptor Raoul Verlet and a drawing course at the Académie Collarossi. He was interested in Egyptian and ancient Greek sculpture.
In 1912, Jacques Lipschitz returned to Tsarist Russia for military service, but was dismissed due to poor health and returned to Paris.
In Paris, Lipschitz was in contact with Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris, the founders of Cubism, as well as Amedeo Modigliani, Diego Rivera, Chaim Sutin and Moses Kisling. He rented a studio in Montparnasse next to Konstantin Brinkush.
Jacques Lipschitz received recognition and commissions in 1920,
1915-1930.
19191915-1919, he expressed himself in Cubist principles and created his best-known works: the Man with a Guitar, the Bathing Woman, the Joy of Life, the Man with a Mandolin, a series of bas-reliefs reminiscent of cubist paintings, and sculptural portraits of the writers Gertrude Stein and Jean Cocteau.
1930, 100 of his works were displayed at a retrospective exhibition in Paris at the Galerie de la Renaissance. Around this time, a change in his style became apparent. The austere, geometric planes were replaced by sleeker biomorphic forms. He depicted the themes of love, child and mother, homeland, humanity, the struggle between good and evil in the images of Greek and Roman mythology and the Old Testament.
1936-1937 Ž. In 1937-1937-1937, a separate gallery was devoted to the works of Lipšics at the World Exhibition in Paris. His sculpture "Prometheus" won a prize.
1941-1945 he lived in the USA with his wife Berta Kitroser, where he created "Prayer", "Spring", "Pilgrim", "Song of Songs", and several interpretations of the theme of Prometheus. Lipšic went to Paris, but changed his mind and returned to the USA. He settled in New York. His wife stayed in Paris and their family broke up. In 1948 he married the sculptor Julia Halberstat.
In 1954 he had a retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
In 1963 he moved to Pietrasanta, Italy.
Jacques Lipschitz died on 16 May 1973. He died in Capri, Italy, on 16th of June, 1966. After his death, his remains were moved and buried in the Har a Menuhot ("Hill of Rest") cemetery in Jerusalem. His last sculpture, 'The Tree of Our Life', was completed by Lipschitz's second wife, the sculptor J. Halberstat. It was erected in Jerusalem five years after Lipschitz's death at the top of Mount Scopus (the highest hill in Jerusalem).
