Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973)

Seated Man (Meditation)

Details

Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973)
Seated Man (Meditation)
signed 'J Lipchitz' (on the top of the base)
onyx
Height: 14 in. (35.6 cm.)
Executed in 1925; unique

Provenance

Fine Arts Associates, Inc. (Otto Gerson), New York.
William Mazer, New York (acquired from the above, 1960); Estate sale, Christie's, New York, 20 November 1998, lot 748.
Acquired at the above sale by the previous owner.

Literature

A.M. Hammacher, Jacques Lipchitz, His Sculpture, New York, 1960, p. 171, no. XXXVI, and p. 173, no. 33 (illustrated, pl. 33). A.G. Wilkinson, The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz, A Catalogue Raisonné, The Paris Years 1910-1940, New York, 1996, vol. I, p. 70, no. 175 (illustrated; with incorrect dimensions).

Lot Essay

During 1925-1930, Lipchitz experimented with sculptural space and created a group of works known as the "transparents". Not only did these works move away from abstraction and towards a more recognizable human form, but space was also used as an element of the sculpture. Seated Man (Meditation) of 1925 is an exceptional example of this concept. As Alan Wilkinson states "without introducing any anatomy, Lipchitz managed to gather together curves with a restricted volume, a diagonal, piercings, and a titled cube, combine them in an S-shape, and create a flowing figure in which the torso disappeared as volume and became manifest as open space" (Wilkinson, op. cit., p. 16). A bronze version of this sculpture is in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

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