Sailor with Guitar

The cubist sculptor Jacques (Chaim Yankev) Lipchitz was born in Druzgenik in the Russian Empire (now Druskininkai, Lithuania). After studying engineering in Vilna, Lipchitz left Lithuania for Paris in 1909, where he studied sculpture at the École des Beaux-Arts and at the Académie Julian. After meeting Pablo Picasso in 1913, Lipchitz became interested in the French avant-garde and began experimenting with the formal aesthetics of cubism. He was drawn to the movement—through his emerging friendship with Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris—which he recognized as reaching its full potential in three-dimensional sculpture. In the 1920s, Lipchitz’s sculpture was animated beyond the confining geometricity of cubism. He also began to experiment with more political and personal themes, creating a series of autobiographical pieces following his move to New York in 1941.