Last year, Jacques Lipchitz returned to Druskininkai for the first time with an exhibition of his own work to mark the anniversary of M. K. Čiurlionis. The exhibition ‘I’m Back in Druskininkai!’ attracted a great deal of interest and calls to repeat it, or at least extend the exhibition period. This year, to celebrate his 135th birthday and exhibit his work here, in “our beloved, unforgettable Druskininkai”, Jacques Lipchitz has invited all his friends from Paris: Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Chaïm Soutine, Georges Rouault, Diego Rivera, Arbit Blatas, Max Band, Théo Tobiasse, Michel Kikoïne, Pinchus Krémègne, Chana Orloff, Léon Bakst, Jules Pascin, Jean Cocteau, Moïse Kisling, Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita, Suzanne Valadon, Ossip Zadkine and Jacques Chapiro. To mark the occasion, the City Museum invites you to an exhibition of works by some of the world’s most famous artists, entitled ‘Jacques Lipchitz and Friends’.

Lipchitz recalls his time in Paris – a period that was not without its difficulties – as follows:

“Between 1910 and 1914, Paris was teeming with foreign artists. I got to know many of them and was very close to some. For example, the Spaniards P. Picasso and Juan Gris, and the Italian A. Modigliani. M. Chagall arrived in Paris from Russia in 1910. Among the sculptors were C. Brâncuși, O. Zadkine and A. Archipenko.” Later, I became acquainted with the Mexican artist D. Rivera and M. Jacob, along with his friends, the Cubist painters. At that time, the sculptor was forced to take on odd jobs to make ends meet. “We, like all the vagabonds of Montparnasse, used to head off to work at the railway station. Chaïm Soutine, Ossip Zadkine and I, like three musketeers, would walk there singing, working up a sweat, chatting in our native Yiddish, joking and sharing our experiences of art and life.”

We cordially invite you to join us on Saturday 27 June at 3.00 pm to welcome these world-renowned figures and together open the exhibition ‘Jacques Lipchitz and Friends’ at the Druskininkai Town Museum, housed in a building constructed in the early 20th century by J. Lipchitz’s father’s construction company!

The artworks for the exhibition have been loaned by art collector Shmuel Tatz.

The exhibition’s curator, and the creator of its concept and layout, is Gintaras Dumčius, Director of the Druskininkai Town Museum.

Chaim Jacob Lipchitz was born in 1891 into a Litvak family in Druskininkai, Lithuania, and in 1909 he left for Paris, where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Julian. Lipchitz also became involved in the Montmartre art community, befriending Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, Diego Rivera, Amedeo Modigliani and others. In 1913, inspired by Picasso and his fellow sculptor Alexander Archipenko, he began creating his first Cubist works. In 1916, Lipchitz signed a contract with the influential art dealer Léonce Rosenberg and, in 1920, held his first solo exhibition at Rosenberg’s gallery, ‘Galerie L’Effort Moderne’. In the mid-1930s, Lipchitz began to move away from Cubism and adopted a figurative, emotionally expressive style – openwork sculptures that integrate with and blend into the surrounding landscape. In 1930, Lipchitz held his first major retrospective at Jean Bucher’s Galerie de la Renaissance, and in 1937, his monumental ‘Prometheus Strangling the Griffin’ was exhibited at the Paris World’s Fair. In 1940, the Nazi occupation forced the sculptor to flee Paris, and, seeking refuge, he settled in New York the following year. Later in his career, Lipchitz became increasingly interested in mythological, biblical and universal human themes, Jewish religious life and the study of Judaism in his work. In 1946, Lipchitz was awarded the title of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and in 1954, a retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which was later shown at the Walker Art Centre in Minneapolis and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Lipchitz died in 1973 in Capri, Italy, and was buried in Jerusalem.

Further information: https://renginiai.druskininkai.lt/renginys/5185/paroda-jacques-lipchitz-ir-draugai