Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973)

Theseus and the Minotaur

Details

Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973)
Theseus and the Minotaur
signed and marked with artist's thumbprint 'J. Lipchitz' (on the top of the base)
bronze with brown patina
Height: 24 in. (63 cm.)
Cast in 1942

Provenance

Acquired from the artist by the present owner in the 1950s

Literature

A. M. Hammacher, Jacques Lipchitz: His Sculpture, New York, 1961, p. 60 (another cast illustrated, pl. LXI).
B. van Bork, The Artist at Work: Jacques Lipchitz, New York, 1966, p. 181 (plaster version illustrated).
J. Lipchitz and H.H. Arnason, My Life in Sculpture, New York, 1972, p. 158 (another cast illustrated, pl. 148).

Exhibited

London, Marlborough Fine Art; Zurich, Marlborough Galerie, and New York, Marlborough Gallery, Jacques Lipchitz, Sculptures and Drawings, May-December 1973, p. 70, no. 31 (illustrated).

Lot Essay

In Greek mythology, the god Jupiter seduced Europa, the daughter of the King of Phoenicia, by transforming himself into a bull and enticing her to mount his back. He then carried her off to Crete. In this sculpture Europa clings to the bull as he swims toward their destination. Lipchitz noted that "the appendages at the back suggest a fishlike form. In my collection there is an extremely rare Coptic piece in which the bull takes on a different aquatic shape. I think I may have been influenced by this." (J. Lipchitz, op. cit., p. 140)