Jacques Lipchitz

Estate of the artist

Marlborough Gallery Inc., New York (acquired from the above)

Acquired from the above in 1983

Lipchitz, The Cubist Period, 1913-1930 (exhibition catalogue), Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, Inc., New York, 1968, illustration of the stone version pl. 25

Jacques Lipchitz: Skulpturen und Zeichnungen, 1911-1969, Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Musuem der Stadt Duisburg, 1971, no. 14, illustration of another cast

Jacques Lipchitz: Sculpture and Drawings from the Cubist Epoch (exhibition catalogue), Marlborough Gallery, New York, 1977, no. 17, illustration of another cast

David Fraser Jenkins & Derek Pullen, The Lipchitz Gift, Models for Sculpture, The Tate Gallery, illustration of the plaster version p. 32

Jacques Lipchitz, A Life in Sculpture (exhibition catalogue), Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, no. 21, illustration of the stone version p. 80

Alan Wilkinson, The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz, A Catalogue Raisonné, Volume I, the Paris Years: 1910 - 1940, New York, 1996, no. 51, illustration of another cast p. 215

Excellent condition. The bronze bears a dark brown patina in very good condition with no abrasions or losses. A small 1/4 nick in the bronze appears at the tip of one of the central elements. The sculpture is structurally sound.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Although it has been known by several titles, including Standing Figure, Cubist Figure and simply Sculpture, Lipchitz himself stated that the subject of this bronze is a woman seated with her legs crossed on a bench.  This is one of the first examples in which the figure and its base are entirely integrated, and the form may be related to Picasso's Cubist watercolors of figures seated in armchairs from 1915-16.   In a conversation with Deborah Stott in 1969, the artist explained that the vertical block behind the figure's head was meant "to give value to the head, the back of the head, you know."  The comment underscores Lipchitz's novel approach to constructing the human body and his approach to the balance of form. 

Lipchitz first rendered this form in a stone version, which now belongs to the Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Collection in Dallas.  With the eye positioned clearly on the head, this figure is more legible than the more abstracted renderings of the body from Lipchitz's prior years, indicating his prioritorial shift towards the clarity of form.  Lipchitz also made a plaster cast from the stone carving, which is now in the Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo, and eventually cast the work in bronze at the Modern Art Foundry in New York in an edition of 7, one of which is in the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia.  The present work is number 5 from that edition.