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  • Personal and professional papers of Jacques Lipchitz
  • Personal papers

Personal and professional papers of Jacques Lipchitz

1910–73

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Jacques Lipchitz (22 August 1891-26 May 1973) was a French-American sculptor of the Cubist style. He was born to a Jewish family in Druskieniki, present day Lithuania, then a part of the Russian Empire. In 1909 he moved to Paris to study sculpture and, with some short gaps, stayed there until his emmigration to the USA in 1942. Lipchitz retained highly figurative and legible components in his work leading up to 1915-16, after which naturalist and descriptive elements were muted, and dominated by a synthetic style of Crystal Cubism. In 1920 Lipchitz held his first solo exhibition, at Léonce Rosenberg's Galerie L'Effort Moderne in Paris. Fleeing the Nazis he moved to the USA in 1942 and settled in New York City and eventually to Hastings-on-Hudson.

These digitised materials include 280 pages of his three notebooks showing the artist in his early days in Paris (1915-25), during the hardships of the war and before his ability as a sculptor was widely recognised. There are also around 1000 items from Lipchitz's personal and business correspondence, reflecting his connections with European artists (Moishe Kisling, Le Corbusier, Karl Teige), and his personal life, evident in his letters to his wife Berthe, parents, siblings, and close friends. There are 150 documents related to two of Lipchitz's artistic and political projects before the Second World War, namely his participation in the Paris International Exhibition of 1937 and his trip to the USSR in 1935. Also included are 50 of his drawings and several examples of rare printed materials, such as early Cubist and Futurist journals and the publications of emigre Russsian communities in Paris. Finally there are more than 1000 photographs, mostly of maquettes of his statues, but also of his family and friends.

Collection Owner
Jacques Lipchitz 1891–1973
Collection
Tate Archive
Acquisition
Presented to Tate Archive by Rubin Lipchitz, March 1989; the cataloguing and selective digitisation of this archive collection was supported by Mr Timm Bergold, 2023
Reference
TGA 897

451 objects in this collection

  • Personal and professional papers of Jacques Lipchitz

    451 Objects

    • Correspondence

      212 Objects

    • Artworks

      23 Objects

    • Business papers

      60 Objects

    • Personal papers

      18 Objects

      • Diaries

        3 Objects

      • Address books and notes

        4 Objects

      • Visas

        2 Objects

      • Official residential documents

        2 Objects

      • Other personal documents

        7 Objects

    • Writings

      12 Objects

    • Printed material

      18 Objects

    • Photographs

      108 Objects

Title
Personal papers
Date
1910–41
Description
Contains a variety of personal papers including diaries, address books, official documents and residential certificates, membership cards and business cards.
Reference
TGA 897/4

Showing 18 objects

Blue notebook

Jacques Lipchitz
1915–25
View by appointment

Bound fragment of notebook

Jacques Lipchitz
1915–25
View by appointment

Loose leaves of notebook

Jacques Lipchitz
1915–25
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Loose note [with the addresses of Soviet artists in Paris]

Jacques Lipchitz
[1937]
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Small address book ‘Agenda moderne 1936’

Jacques Lipchitz
[1935]
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Small address book ‘Agenda Repertoir’

Jacques Lipchitz
[1935]
View by appointment

Large address book ‘Repertoir’

Jacques Lipchitz
[1935–40]
View by appointment

Registration by civil government of Balearic province

Collection owner: Jacques Lipchitz
24 August 1914
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Permission to enter France

Collection owner: Jacques Lipchitz
29 May 1915
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Jacques Lipchitz’s rent receipt for the house at 54, rue du Montparnasse

Collection owner: Jacques Lipchitz
1 October 1916
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Residential certificate signed by concierge Simeon

Collection owner: Jacques Lipchitz
17 March 1921
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Membership card of ‘Societe des artistes Francais’ for using ‘Cantine de M.H.ZO - B’

Collection owner: Jacques Lipchitz
9 June 1915
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‘Carte d’Auditeur’ in ‘Groupe d’Etudes Philosophiques & Scientifiques’

Collection owner: Jacques Lipchitz
1924–5
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‘Carte d’Electeur pour toutes les Elections a la Chambre des Deputes au Conseil General et au Conseil Municipal’ of Jacques Lipchitz

Collection owner: Jacques Lipchitz
1 April 1933–31 March 1934
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Receipt of membership payment, ‘Societe des Artistes Independants’

Collection owner: Jacques Lipchitz
3 May 1935
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Membership card of ‘Maison de la Culture - AEAR - Amis de “Commune” issues to Jacques Lipchitz

Collection owner: Jacques Lipchitz
1936
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Membership card of ‘Association artistique declare l’Art Mural...1936’ for Jacques Lipchitz

Collection owner: Jacques Lipchitz
3 May 1935
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‘Carte de membre’ for ‘Association pour l’etude de la culture Sovietique’ issued to Jacques Lipchitz

Collection owner: Jacques Lipchitz
21 February 1937
View by appointment
Artwork
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