Jacques Lipchitz papers and Bruce Bassett papers concerning Jacques Lipchitz, circa 1910-2001, bulk 1941-2001
Lipchitz, Jacques,
b. 1891
d. 1973
Painter, Sculptor
Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.
Collection size: 52.8 linear feet
Collection Summary: Biographical material, correspondence, writings, interview transcripts, records relating to the compilation of a catalog raisonné, financial records, photographs, artwork, scrapbooks,and printed material that document Jacques Lipchitz's career as a sculptor and his personal life.
Biographical material, 1951-1969, includes a citation awarded to Lipchitz by the U.S. Treasury Department, War Finance Committee for "service rendered in the Seventh War Loan May 14-June 29, 1945," membership cards from American Society of the French Legion of Honor, Inc., The French Art Theatre, and Museum of Modern Art, rent receipts and lease for 54 Rue du Montparnasse, Paris, Lipchitz
Correspondence, 1926-1975, is both professional and personal, with approximately 20% in foreign languages, primarily French, but also Russian, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Latvian, Hebrew, and Yiddish. Professional correspondence is with institutions, collectors, dealers, museum curators and directors and concerns commissions, exhibition plans, loans, jury service, and more. Architects also corresponded about sculpture commissions, and dealers apprised Lipchitz of new inventory that might be of interest for his collection. Many letters are from art groups and Jewish organizations soliciting donations of artwork for fundraising events and/or inviting Lipchitz to speak or be a guest of honor. Scholars corresponded about their research, requesting information about specific works by Lipchitz, items in his collection of ancient and primitive art including many African masks and tribal artifacts, along with European paintings (he had a special interest in Gericault), or opinions on various topics. Also found are a surprising number of fan letters from aspiring artists requesting critiques of their work, and from the general public inquiring about the possibility of meeting Lipchitz and visiting his studio. After the 1952 fire that destroyed his East 23rd studio and almost all of its contents, many friends and strangers wrote letters of condolence and encouragement.
Writings include eleven small pocket diaries, 1940-1965, containing appointments, events, addresses and phone numbers, notes on expenses, and sketches. Other writings, 1946-1965 by Lipchitz include a notebook containing random notes on sculpture, a list of sculptures destroyed in the 1952 fire at his East 23rd Street studio in New York. Also included are short pieces and fragments of writings about sculptors Auguste Rodin, William Zorach, Mary Frank, and Natan Rapoport, memories of artist Amedeo Modigliani, articles and reflections on contemporary art and the church, and a completed questionnaire about the sculpture The Struggle of Jacob with the Angel. Speech transcripts by Lipchitz, with the exception of a transcript of his talk with students at Boston University School of Fine and Applied Arts, March 12, 1965, are unidentified and undated. Writings by others include catalog essays, student papers, a speech about Lipchitz and his work, and transcripts and notes of interviews with Jacques Lipchitz.
Manuscripts, proof sheets, photographs and correspondence relate to The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz: A Catalogue Raisonné (2 vol.), 1992-1999, sponsored by Marlborough Gallery, Inc., and published by Thames and Hudson. Volume 1: The Paris Years, 1910-1940 appeared in 1996, and Volume 2: The American Years, 1941-1973 was issued in 2000. Financial records, 1942-1968, are from the Buchholz Gallery and Curt Valentin Gallery; also, receipts from auctioneers and galleries relating to the Lipchitz Collection of art. Additional financial records include gallery accounts, insurance records, and invoices and receipts.
Photographs, circa 1910-1967 consist of project sites and models, exhibition installations, Lipchitz, family members, and others, artwork, events, places, and an album of photographs taken during the summer of 1967 in Pietrasanta, Italy. Scrapbooks, 1945-1946, contain newspaper clippings and a small number of clippings from other periodicals that mention Lipchitz and/or reproduce his work. Volume 2, 1946, includes a two-page typed transcript of a very brief interview, and the typescript text of remarks delivered by Lipchitz at an unidentified event. Material preserved in the scrapbooks is mostly in French, with a few items in German and English. Additional printed material pertains to primitive and ancient art.
Photographs, circa 1910-1967 consist of project sites and models, exhibition installations, Lipchitz, family members, and others, artwork, events, places, and an album of photographs taken during the summer of 1967 in Pietrasanta, Italy. Scrapbooks, 1945-1946, contain newspaper clippings and a small number of clippings from other periodicals that mention Lipchitz and/or reproduce his work. Volume 2, 1946, includes a two-page typed transcript of a very brief interview, and the typescript text of remarks delivered by Lipchitz at an unidentified event. Material preserved in the scrapbooks is mostly in French, with a few items in German and English. Additional printed material pertains to primitive and ancient art.
Biographical/Historical Note: Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973) was a sculptor in Paris, France and Hastings-on Hudson, N.Y. Jacques Lipchitz was born Chaim Jacob Lipchitz in Lithuania, then within the Russian Empire. He moved to Paris in 1909 were he became part of the artistic communities of Montmartre and Montparnasse, eventually developing a cubist style of sculpture. In the 1920s he experimented with abstract forms he called "transparent sculptures". During the German occupation of France he fled to the United States where he settled in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. Beginning in 1963, he returned to Europe for several months of each year and worked in Pietrasanta, Italy. He is buried in Jerusalem, Israel.
Donated 2010 by Hanno Mott, Jacques Lipchitz's step-son, on behalf of himself and his siblings, Lolya R. Lipchitz and Frank L. Mott.
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