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Seated Man (Meditation)
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Seated Man (Meditation)

Jacques Lipchitz  (American (born Lithuania), Druskininkai 1891–1973 Capri)

Date:
1925
Medium:
Bronze
Dimensions:
13 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. (34.3 x 29.2 x 24.8 cm)
Classification:
Sculpture
Credit Line:
The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection, Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman, 2006
Accession Number:
2006.32.38

This artwork is not on display

  • Description

    When Lipchitz modeled this work in 1925, his success was such that he was able to commission a house and studio in the Paris suburbs from the architect Le Corbusier. As he moved from the city center, he abandoned the geometric Cubist style that he had shared with Juan Gris and Pablo Picasso for a new lyrical expressiveness. In his memoirs, he recalled that this figure represents “a weary man, slumped in a chair, his arm supporting his nodding, drowsy head.” He noted that upon seeing this sculpture, a businessman exclaimed “My God, that’s exactly how I feel at the end of the day.” The pose recalls the figure in Albrecht Dürer’s famous engraving of 1514, Melencholia I.

  • Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

    Signature: Signed on top of base, rear proper right: J Lipchitz

  • Provenance

    Curt Valentin Gallery (formerly Buchholz Gallery), New York, likely acquired from the artist - 1952; Mr. and Mrs. Jay Z. Steinberg, Chicago, purchased from Curt Valentin, February 11, 1952 - gift of Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006.

  • Exhibition History

    An American Choice: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection,The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, May 21-September 27, 1981, exh. cat. by William S. Lieberman, pp. 7 (intro by Lieberman), 22, 23 (ill.), 155. Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, September 18, 2007 - February 3, 2008, exh. cat. edited by Gary Tinterow, Lisa Mintz Messinger, and Nan Rosenthal, no. 6, pp. 27-29 (ill.; essay by Michael R. Taylor).

  • References

    H.H. Arnason, Jacques Lipchitz: Sketches in Bronze (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969), p. 11, pl. 20.

    Jacques Lipchitz, with H.H. Arnason, My Life in Sculpture (New York: Viking Press, 1972), pp. 76, 81, 82, ill. no. 62.

    Deborah A. Scott, Jacques Lipchitz and Cubism (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1978), pp. 162, 166-169, 189.

    Hilton Kramer, "Modernist Show Moves Met Firmly into Art of 20th Century," The New York Times, May 22, 1981, p. C21.

    Alan G. Wilkinson, The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz: A Catalogue Raisonné. Volume One: The Paris Years 1910-1940 (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996), ill. p. 70 no. 176 (edition unknown).

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