Seated Man (Meditation)
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.
Artwork Details
- Title: Seated Man (Meditation)
- Artist: Jacques Lipchitz (American (born Lithuania), Druskininkai 1891–1973 Capri)
- Date: 1925
- Medium: Bronze
- Dimensions: 13 7/8 × 11 1/2 × 9 5/8 in. (35.2 × 29.2 × 24.4 cm)
- Classification: Sculpture
- Credit Line: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection, Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman, 2006
- Object Number: 2006.32.38
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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Multiple artists/makers
1960
Jacques Lipchitz
1912
Jacques Lipchitz
Atelier 17
1943–44
Jacques Lipchitz
ca. 1942
Jacques Lipchitz
1926
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