orig. Chaim Jacob Lipchitz
born Aug. 10, 1891, Druskininkai, Lithuania, Russian Empire
died May 26, 1973, Capri, Italy
Lithuanian-born French sculptor, he was also active in the U.S. Trained as an engineer in Vilnius, he turned to sculpture after moving to Paris in 1909.
His early work was Cubist in style. Around 1925 he began producing a series of works known as "transparents," open-spaced, curvilinear bronzes, such as Harpist (1928), which would greatly influence the course of sculpture in the following quarter-century. After settling near New York City in 1941, he produced such massive works as The Prayer (1943) and Bellerophon Taming Pegasus (1966).