JACQUES LIPCHITZ (1891-1973)

Details

JACQUES LIPCHITZ (1891-1973)

Miracle II

signed, numbered and marked with thumbprint on the back 'J Lipchitz 2/7'--bronze with brown patina
Height: 29 7/8in. (75.9cm.)
Cast in 1947; number two in an edition of seven

Literature

A.M. Hammacher, Jacques Lipchitz, His Sculpture, New York, 1960, pl. 90 (another cast illustrated)
B. van Bork, Jacques Lipchitz, The Artist at Work, New York, 1966, pp. 134 and 176 (large bronze version illustrated)
J. Lipchitz, My Life in Sculpture, New York, 1972, pp. 179-180 (large bronze version illustrated, p. 181, fig. 161)

Lot Essay

The series of sculptures which Lipchitz executed in 1947 and collectively titled Miracle was a direct response to contemporary events. Lipchitz closely followed the ordeal of the Jewish refugees aboard the ship Exodus. "It was a terrible event, one that made me sick with anger and despair. There were many prayers and fasts among Jews for the safety of this ship, and I also fasted. It was during my fast that the idea for this sculpture appeared. I was certain that Israel would ultimately become a state, and the sculpture was in effect the birth of this new state of Israel, a candlestick with the Jew praying." (J. Lipchitz, op. cit., p. 179)

Completed after Miracle I and Exodus 47, Miracle II was a prayer of thanksgiving and celebration for the birth of the new Jewish state. The sculptor unites the concept of the praying figure with the symbols of the Menorah and the Tables of the Law.