Guitar Player 1918

Jacques Lipchitz made this sculpture, Guitar Player, and its a great example of cubist sculpture. It’s like Lipchitz chiseled away at the figure to reveal essential forms. I can almost feel him there in the studio, turning the piece again and again, trying to find a way to show all sides at once. It is a real puzzle, isn't it? A kind of Rubik’s Cube, as though the subject is both recognizable and not. You can see the influences of Picasso and Braque in his work. But he also brought his own sensibility to the table, a kind of soulful meditation on what it means to be human. Like all artists, Lipchitz has been in dialog with other artists, trying to push against conventions. The rough surface catches the light in surprising ways. It asks us to rethink what we think we know, and that’s exciting.