ART HISTORY 132 Cubism: Sculpture

Jacques Lipchitz ( ) biography: – French sculptor of Russian birth – father (Jewish building contractor) opposed his son becoming an artist – sympathetic mother arranged for him to go to Paris in 1909 training: – studied briefly at Ecole des Beaux-Arts – transferred to Académie Julian drawing & modeling from life afternoons in museums Cubist work ( ): – composition: dynamic crisp diagonals curvilinear forms – perspective: multiplicity of views – figure: deconstructed into broad, flat planes

Lipchitz Standing Person ( ) – medium: limestone – surface texture: smooth – composition: stabilized by vertical orientation – spatial order: includes negative space – perspective: multiplicity of views – figure: abstracted broad, flat planes simplified shapes (cones, rectangles) delicate mass/weight arrangement of forms difficult to visually assemble into coherent whole

Lipchitz Man w/ Guitar (1917) – medium: limestone – surface texture: smooth – composition: dynamic crisp diagonals curvilinear forms – perspective: multiplicity of views – figure: deconstructed broad, flat planes convincing mass/weight includes physiognomic details (e.g., eyes, fingers) yet arrangement of forms difficult to visually assemble into coherent whole

Aleksandr Archipenko ( ) biography: –1887  born in Kiev, Ukraine –1906  moves to Moscow –1908  leaves for Paris –  WWI spent in south of FR –1921  moves to Berlin –1923  emigrates to USA –1935  moves to Los Angeles, CA –1937  moves to Chicago exhibition history: –1910  Salon des Indépendents and Salon d’Automne w/ Cubists –1912  founding member “La Section d’Or” in company of Duchamp, Picasso, & Apollinaire –1913  Armory Show (NYC) aesthetic: abstract –negative space –simultaneous views –sculptural voids

Archipenko Suzanne (1909) –aesthetic: abstract broad, flat planes visually assembles into coherent whole –form: massive – surface texture: rough, unfinished – composition: dynamic gestures – spatial order: negative space between torso & arm

ARCHIPENKO’s Cubist Woman Combing Her Hair (1915)

Julio Gonzalez Julio Gonzalez ( ) Woman Combing Her Hair –date: c –aesthetic: abstract –medium: ready-made bars, sheets, or rods of welded or wrought iron and bronze –forms: delicate, flattened masses –spatial order: positive and negative –composition: dynamic interplay of of curves, lines, and planes suggests temporal simultaneity

Brancusi ( ) biography: –Romanian; son of poor peasants –ran away from home at age 13 –age 18, enrolled at School of Crafts training: moved to Paris –Ecole des Beaux-Arts ( ) –invited to enter workshop of Rodin left R’s studio after only two months “Nothing can grow under big trees” aesthetic: abstract – non-literal representation – aim to depict "not the outer form but the idea, the essence of things” – relatively small body of work 215 sculptures, of which about 50 lost or destroyed exhibition history: 1913 – Salon des Independants (Paris) – Armory Show (NYC)

Brancusi The Kiss (1908) – theme: Classical – form: abstract cubic emphasis simplification of musculature and facial features rounded masses – deviates from Picasso’s emphasis on 2-d planes that flattening space – spatial order: no use of negative space – texture: differentiates flesh from hair

(Left) RODIN’s The Kiss (1889) vs. (right) BRANCUI’s The Kiss (1908)

Brancusi Bird in Space (1923) – medium: bronze – form: simple, organic shapes – theme: based on "Maiastra” Romanian folklore beautiful golden bird who foretells future and cures the blind – anecdote: purchased in 1926 by Steichen U.S. customs officers did not accept the “bird” as a work of art placed duty upon its import as an industrial item; charged high tax next year Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (founder of Whitney Museum) financed S’s lawsuit – case revolved around question of 'What is art?’ – assessment overturned – provenance: sold in 2005 for $27.5M record for sculpture sold in auction

IMAGE INDEX Slide 2:RIVERA, Diego. Portrait of Jacques Lipchitz (1914). Slide 3:LIPCHITZ, Jacques. Standing Person ( ), limestone, 98 x 28 x 18 cm., Tate Gallery, London. Slide 4:LIPCHITZ, Jacques. Man with Guitar Slide 5:Photograph of ARCHIPENKO. Slide 6:ARCHIPENKO, Aleksandr. Suzanne (1909), Limestone, 15 3/8 x 10 x 8-5/8 in., Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA. Slide 7:ARCHIPENKO, Aleksandr. Woman Combing Her Hair (1915), Bronze, approx. 1’1 ¾” high, Tate Gallery, London. (1917). Slide 8:STEICHEN, Edward. Photograph of Brancusi (1922). Slide 9:BRANCUSI, Constantin. The Kiss (1908), Limestone, 23 x 13 ¾ x 10 ¾ in., The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art.

IMAGE INDEX Slide 11:(Left) RODIN’s The Kiss (1889); and (right) BRANCUI’s The Kiss (1908). Slide 12:BRANCUSI, Constantin. Bird in Space (1923), bronze, with base 56 ¾ in. high, 6 ½ in. diameter, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.