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JACQUES LIPCHITZ | La Liseuse II
Estimate
600,000 - 800,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- Jacques Lipchitz
- La Liseuse II
- Inscribed J Lipchitz, dated Sept 1919, numbered 1/7 and marked with the artist's thumbprint
- Bronze
- Height: 29 3/4 in.
- 75.5 cm
- Conceived in 1919 and cast in an edition of 7.
Provenance
Bernard J. Reis, New York (acquired from the artist)
McKee Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above on February 24, 1994
McKee Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above on February 24, 1994
Exhibited
New York, Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, Lipchitz: The Cubist Period 1913-1930, 1968, no. 34, illustrated in the catalogue
Literature
Maurice Raynal, Jacques Lipchitz, Paris, 1947, illustration of the stone version n.p.
Alan G. Wilkinson, The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz, A Catalogue Raisonné, vol. I, London, 1996, no. 97, illustrations of another cast pp. 53 & 161
Alan G. Wilkinson, The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz, A Catalogue Raisonné, vol. I, London, 1996, no. 97, illustrations of another cast pp. 53 & 161
Condition
Please contact the Impressionist & Modern Art department directly at 212 606 7360 for a condition report prepared by Wilson Conservation LLC.
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.
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.
Catalogue Note
By 1919, when he executed the stone version of La Liseuse II, Lipchitz had developed an attuned sense of spatial composition influenced by his study of the Cubist works of Picasso, Braque and Gris. The artist was now able to effectively translate his two-dimensional conceptions into a three-dimensional form.
Fascinated by the unique sculptural challenge of representing the female figure in a Cubist manner, Lipchitz created a large number of sculptures based on the human form between the early 1910s and the end of the decade. The first of the series were strictly geometrical while others, like the present work, incorporated arabesques and curved features, giving them an irrepressibly human quality. The present work reflects the large, simplified planes and curved shadows in Gris’ painting done two years earlier, Portrait de Madame Josette Gris (see fig. 1). The late 1910s were a period of important transition for the artist when he began to realize the importance of negative space, utilizing the void rather than the volume of the bronze to suggest the head or part of the torso.
Working alongside many of the key Cubist painters in Paris, Lipchitz was naturally drawn to their innovative spirit. Lipchitz’s challenge was to develop a Cubist idiom that translated into three dimensions while retaining a sense of the graphic, non-literal style of representation that he so admired. Discussing his early achievements, Henry R. Hope wrote: "Lipchitz began to show his grasp of the cubists’ analysis and penetration of form. His figures were represented as if seen from many angles and perspectives, often with a richly broken up surface of deep and shallow facets. Yet the subordination of parts to the whole, and the overall effect of agitated movement, conflicting with the sheer, static mass of stone gives these sculptures a quality that is unique in cubist art” (Henry R. Hope, The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1954, p. 11).
Other bronze examples of La Liseuse II reside in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Sprengel Museum in Hanover, Germany. The stone version is in the collection of the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.
The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by Pierre Levai.
Fascinated by the unique sculptural challenge of representing the female figure in a Cubist manner, Lipchitz created a large number of sculptures based on the human form between the early 1910s and the end of the decade. The first of the series were strictly geometrical while others, like the present work, incorporated arabesques and curved features, giving them an irrepressibly human quality. The present work reflects the large, simplified planes and curved shadows in Gris’ painting done two years earlier, Portrait de Madame Josette Gris (see fig. 1). The late 1910s were a period of important transition for the artist when he began to realize the importance of negative space, utilizing the void rather than the volume of the bronze to suggest the head or part of the torso.
Working alongside many of the key Cubist painters in Paris, Lipchitz was naturally drawn to their innovative spirit. Lipchitz’s challenge was to develop a Cubist idiom that translated into three dimensions while retaining a sense of the graphic, non-literal style of representation that he so admired. Discussing his early achievements, Henry R. Hope wrote: "Lipchitz began to show his grasp of the cubists’ analysis and penetration of form. His figures were represented as if seen from many angles and perspectives, often with a richly broken up surface of deep and shallow facets. Yet the subordination of parts to the whole, and the overall effect of agitated movement, conflicting with the sheer, static mass of stone gives these sculptures a quality that is unique in cubist art” (Henry R. Hope, The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1954, p. 11).
Other bronze examples of La Liseuse II reside in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Sprengel Museum in Hanover, Germany. The stone version is in the collection of the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.
The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by Pierre Levai.