Jacques Lipchitz papers and Bruce Bassett papers concerning Jacques Lipchitz, circa 1910-2001, bulk 1941-2001

The citation was 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 are from American Society of the French Legion of Honor, Inc., The French Art Theatre, and Museum of Modern Art. Rent receipts are for 54 Rue du Montparnasse, Paris and Lipchitz's New York studio on East 23rd Street; the lease is for a house in Pietrasanta, Italy. A survey prepared for Lipchitz shows the boundaries of his property in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY.

This series comprises nearly half of the collection. Approximately 20 percent is in foreign languages, primarily French, with a fair amount in Russian; German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Latvian, Hebrew and Yiddish represent the remainder. Correspondence consists largely of incoming letters. Surviving copies of Lipchitz's outgoing letters are mainly drafts, and the earliest ones bear corrections by someone with a better command of English. Drafts of replies often appear on the backs of letters or their accompanying envelopes. Some drafts are written on separate sheets of paper, and multiple letters may appear on a single page.

Jacques Lipchitz's correspondence illuminates his professional career and personal life, with the substance of many letters combining both. Professional correspondence with collectors, galleries, and museum personnel concerns commissions, exhibition plans, loans, jury service, etc. Architects also corresponded about commissions, and dealers apprised Lipchitz of new inventory that might be of interest for his collection. Art groups, Jewish organizations, and charities wrote to solicit donations of artwork for fundraising events, and issued invitations to speak or be a guest of honor. Scholars contacted Lipchitz about their research requesting information about specific works, items in the Lipchitz Collection, and his opinions about various issues. Also found are fan letters from aspiring artists seeking advice, and from the general public asking for the opportunity to meet Lipchitz and visit his studio. After the 1952 studio fire, many friends and strangers sent letters of condolence and encouragement. Personal correspondence with close friends, wife Yulla, and a nephew recounts personal and family news, activities, and sometimes touches on future plans.

Eleven small pocket diaries contain very brief entries noting appointments and events, along with addresses and phone numbers, notes on expenses, and a few quick sketches.

Writings by Jacques Lipchitz include a notebook containing random notes on sculpture. The folder titled "Lists of Sculpture" includes a list of items lost in the 1952 fire that destroyed his East 23rd Street studio. Among the miscellaneous writings are short pieces and fragments about Rodin, William Zorach, Mary Frank, and Natan Rapoport; memories of Modigliani; articles and reflections on contemporary art and the church; and a completed questionnaire about The Struggle of Jacob with the Angel. Speeches, 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.

Among the writings by other authors are catalog essays, student papers, and a speech about Lipchitz and his work. This series also includes transcripts and notes of interviews with Jacques Lipchitz.

A small number of writings, enclosed with letters, are scattered throughout the correspondence (Subseries 1.1). Most notable is "Homage to Jacques Lipchitz," a poem by John Ciardi, sent with his letter of June 18, 1958.

Sponsored by Marlborough Gallery, Inc., Alan G. Wilkinson's The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz: A Catalogue Raisonné was published by Thames and Hudson. Volume One: The Paris Years, 1910-1940 appeared in 1996, and Volume Two: The American Years, 1941-1973 was issued in 2000.

Correspondence includes photo requests and permissions.

Administrative correspondence is mainly between Marlborough Gallery staff and the author, Alan G. Wilkinson.

Research correspondence includes several letters received in response to inquiries made during preparation of volume 1 that also contain information about works produced after 1940. They were used for researching volume 2 and remain with the records relating to its compilation.

Research materials used for both volumes of the catalogue raisonné consist of unidentified images of Lipchitz's sculpture and copies of inventory cards for bronzes and stone sculptures at Marlborough Gallery, Inc.

Several letters received in response to inquiries made during preparation of volume 1 also contain information about works produced after 1940. They were used for researching volume 2 and remain with the research correspondence documenting its compilation.

Account statements issued by Buchholz Gallery and Curt Valentin Gallery record works sold, buyers, and prices. They also document the charges to the artist for casting, photography, insurance, and etc. Records concerning the Lipchitz Collection consist of receipts from auctioneers and galleries.

Additional financial records including gallery accounts, insurance records, and invoices and receipts enclosed with letters are scattered throughout the correspondence (Subseries 1.2). Notes on expenses are scattered throughout the diaries (Subseries 1.3).

Sketches by Lipchitz consist of pencil drawings on the back of an envelope and drawings in ball point pen on two small slips of paper. The geometric designs by an unidentified artist are rendered in ink on two sheets of graph paper.

Two volumes consist mainly of newspaper clippings and a small number of clippings from periodicals mentioning Lipchitz and/or containing reproductions of his work. All clippings were provided by the French clipping service Le Lynx. Volume 2 also includes a 2-page transcript of a very brief interview, and the text of equally brief 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.

Exhibition catalogs and announcements, articles, press releases, books, reproductions, and programs document Lipchitz's exhibitions, sculpture, commissions, the Lipchitz Collection, and events honoring the sculptor. This series also contains a variety of printed material including newspaper clippings and other miscellaneous items regarding general art topics. Some items are in German and French.

Additional printed items are found enclosed with correspondence (Subseries 1.2) and, to a lesser extent, in his diaries (Subseries 1.3). Both scrapbooks (Subseries 1.8) are comprised mainly of newspaper clippings.

Architectural prints show sites for commissions and/or details of projects. Miscellaneous items consist of a ship passenger list, the menu of a farewell dinner honoring Lipchitz, and a general brochure about The American Academy of Arts and Letters containing a picture of Lipchitz receiving an award. Programs are for events honoring Lipchitz and a 1967 Jacques Lipchitz Festival sponsored by the Hastings Creative Arts Council.

This subseries consists of a variety of printed items on general art topics, none referencing Lipchitz or his art collection.

Photographs document people, artwork, project sites and models, exhibition installations, events, and places. Photographs of people include Jacques Lipchitz, family members, and others. Photographs of artwork include pieces by both Jacques Lipchitz and other artists. Views of Lipchitz exhibition installations in the United States and Europe mainly document solo shows. Photographs of events record a variety of occasions, among them: the opening of Lipchitz's new studio at Hastings-on-Hudson, NY; the dedication ceremony for Philip Johnson's Roofless Church in New Harmony, IN, with ornamental gates and a sculpture by Lipchitz; and Lipchitz addressing an anatomy class at Albert Einstein Medical College. Among the photographs of places are Lipchitz's studios at Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, and Pietrasanta, Italy, and a view of Pablo Picasso's Paris studio.

Photographs of Jacques Lipchitz include a small head shot taken during his early years in Paris, copies of two 1946 portraits by Arnold Newman, views of him in the Hastings-on-Hudson studio, at Modern Art Foundry, and with Yulla. Also found are views of the sculptor's hands.

The Lipchitz family is represented by images of his parents Abraham and Rachel Krinsky Lipchitz, sister Diana, youngest brother Rubin, nephew Georgy Hay, a niece and her daughter. Most were tentatively identified in 2010 by Loyla Lipchitz.

Among the other identified individuals are Josef Albers and Ken Tyler, Jane Blaffer Owen, and Fiore de Henriquez, a young sculptor who lived with the Lipchitz family in the mid 1960s. Photographs of Senator Robert A. Taft probably served as resource material for a bust commissioned circa 1958, and those of President Lyndon B. Johnson were likely used when Lipchitz designed the 1964 Presidential Scholar Medal.

Additional photographs of Lipchitz and others are found among photographs of events (Subseries 1.10.5), and some may be enclosed with letters, scattered throughout the correspondence (Subseries 1.2).

The vast majority of this subseries documents Lipchitz's sculpture. Many are unidentified. Among the identified works are: The Joy of Living, Woman and Gazelles, Song of the Vowels (various locations), Prometheus (versions for the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Ministry of Education, Brazil), Nôtre Dame de Liesse, Assy, France, and ornamental gates and a second cast of Nôtre Dame de Liesse for Philip Johnson's Roofless Church in New Harmony, Indiana. Photographs by Ladislas Segy include "Aspects of Lipchitz Bather III, 1917 bronze on the turntable," which consists of small photographs taken from 11 angles and glued inside a manila folder to document the rotating sculpture. Among the sculpture photographed by F. Wilbur Seiders is a detail of Lipchitz's signature.

Other works of art by Lipchitz represented in this subseries include a substantial number of photographs of drawings, including pages from sketchbooks which are not among the Jacques Lipchitz papers. Also found is a photograph of a medal bearing a portrait of President Lyndon Baines Johnson commissioned for the Presidential Scholar Awards in 1964.

Photographs of artwork by other artists include silver objects from the Jewish Museum shown in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 1955 exhibition "Art of the Hebrew Tradition." The Lipchitz Collection is also represented by 13 examples of African sculpture. "Primitive and Ancient Art" photographs include identified and unidentified items from museums and unspecified collection; it is not known if any are from Lipchitz's collection.

A few other photographs of project sites, enclosed with letters, can be found scattered throughout the correspondence (Subseries 1.1.2).

Photographs of The American Jewish Tercentenary Dinner feature President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the main speaker of the evening; Lipchitz does not appear in any views. At the award ceremony sponsored by the Philadelphia Museum School of Art, a citation was presented to Jacques Lipchitz "for the distinction brought upon his profession."

Posed by Lipchitz's ornamental gates are the participants in the dedication ceremony for the Roofless Church in New Harmony, IN: Philip Johnson, architect; Jacques Lipchitz, sculptor; Jane Blaffer Owen whose Robert Lee Blaffer Trust initiated and funded the project; and chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, Right Rev. George F. Macleod of the Church of Scotland.

The purpose of Lipchitz's talk to anatomy students at Albert Einstein Medical College was to share a new perspective on the subject of a practicing artist. From the early 1950s through the mid-1960s Lipchitz frequently appeared on "What in the World," a television show that featured experts who identified and discussed unusual items from the collection of the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania.

Some of the unidentified landscapes and views of buildings may be travel pictures. Photographs of the Lipchitz studio at Hastings-on-Hudson, NY show many finished pieces, maquettes, and works in progress. They also give a good sense of the space. The contact sheets include Lipchitz and his studio assistant in a few views. Also found are an undated photograph of Picasso's studio in Paris and one of "Atelier Halser."