Jacques Lipchitz 1891-1973
Meditation, 1925/lifetime cast
Bronze
13 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 9 3/4 in
34.3 x 29.2 x 24.8 cm
34.3 x 29.2 x 24.8 cm
Inscribed 'Lipchitz', numbered 4/7, and stamped with the artist's thumbprint and foundry mark
Meditation is the first of two sculptures in 1925 which mark the first germs of a series of ideas which were to be realised in a number of different major...
Meditation is the first of two sculptures in 1925 which mark the first germs of a series of ideas which were to be realised in a number of different major works of the late 1920s and 1930s. Inspired by Auguste Rodin's iconic 1904 sculpture The Thinker, this gestural piece mimics the classic pose while disporting and elongating the figure. Meditation was quickly translated without significant change into larger versions of marble and bronze, and in its general forms served as the basis for such sculptures as the Reclining Nude with Guitar, 1928. In its blocky yet curving masses, it again anticipated aspects of many major works of the 1930s. A version of this sculpture was acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2006; other prominent museums such as Tate, MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art and Harvard Art Museums hold examples of Jacques Lipchitz' work in their collections.
Provenance
Marlborough Gallery, New York (acquired from the artist)Acquired from the above on November 26, 1968
Private collection, UK
Exhibitions
Melbourne, The National Gallery of Victoria, Jacques Lipchitz, 1963, no. 21;Buenos Aires, Centro de Artes Visuales, Instituto Torcuato di Tella, Jacques Lipchitz: Esbozos de bronze 1912-1962, 1964, no. 21;
Boston, Boston University School of Fine and Applied Arts, Jacques Lipchitz, Retrospective: Sculpture and Drawing, 1965, no. 14
Literature
Alan G. Wilkinson, The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz, Catalogue Raisonné, The Paris Years, 1910-1940, Vol. I, New York, 1996, no. 174, illustrations of another cast pp. 70 & 1808
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