The Lithuanian-born American sculptor Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973) was in the vanguard in translating Cubist pictorial motif and order into sculptural terms. In time, he modified this idiom to develop a highly personal expressionistic style. Christopher Sweet, in Art News described him as, "the most accomplished of the Cubist sculptors."

Jacques Lipchitz was born in Druskienski, Lithuania, on 22 August 1891. His father, a Jewish building contractor, came from a rich banking family. As a boy, Lipchitz was encouraged to draw. After he graduated from high school, his father expected him to go to engineering school, but Lipchitz opposed him and went to Paris in 1909 to study sculpture. His father, realizing the son's determination, relented and provided him with an allowance.

Studied in Paris

Lipchitz briefly studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and then at the Académie Julian and the Académie Collarossi. As a student, he...