The Bather
- MAKER:
Artist
Jacques Lipchitz ( French, 1891 - 1973 )
- DATE:
- 1923–1925
General Description
This sculpture is an assemblage of distinct and reductive elements, an interplay of concave and convex forms. Its identity as a human figure is underscored through the relative readability of a few important details. The small round "eye," for instance, helps to articulate the face. The gentle slope of an almost horizontal line suggests a "shoulder." The profile of the legs connotes slightly bent "knees." The manner in which the legs are truncated by the bronze base suggests, uncannily, that the figure is wading through water, holding up her skirts above the watery surface. The artist achieves a delicate balance between descriptive details and the broader abstract forms.
Excerpt from
DMA label copy, January 2003.
Web Resources
-
The Jewish Museum, New York
Learn more about the life and work of Jacques Lipchitz. -
Tate, London
View other works by Jacques Lipchitz. -
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Learn more about the artist and his work in this 1954 catalog The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz. -
Art Institute of Chicago
Check out this 1916 painting by Amedeo Modigliani of Jacques Lipchitz and his wife Berthe.