Interview questions to Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973 – Lithuania – sculptor). Reached Lipchitz after listening to DVD produced by UK based Society of Portrait Sculptures that interviewed Vlasta Prachaticka. She had cited the influence of Marino Marini on her work. And one of the people that Marini had met in NY (according to Wikipedia) was Jacques Lipchitz (wiki and interview).
Extracts from interview:
– what moves me:
What I liked from Cezanne was his belief in the potentiality of the human being. And [Cezanne] wanted to exalt that. Its not a new feeling in the human being. Its an old feeling. But every time he can do only a little bit more. Making new conquests. Having the assurance that he is going ahead. I see in Cezanne, a jump towards the affirmation of this feeling. Its vigorous. Its moving. Everything is in it. It has the will to be a human being. He doesn’t want to imitate just nature, like the academician or even the impressionists. The impressionists were very naturalistic painters with a technique that was revolutionary. The technique, the finding of Chevroi [source: wiki that is recreating sensation in the eye that views subject through method of small, thin, brush strokes to convey color vibration] … With these techniques Cezanne said he would like to make an art which is as eternal as the art of the museums. This affirmation of the human potentiality is what moves me most.
– lesson from Rodin:
Rodin made sculpture with parts of body missing. What is so fascinating about broken statue? It is because a part is missing. That missing part gives a mystery. You want to reconstruct it to complete it. That activity in your mind gives you a certain attraction to the sculpture. That was meaningful when I understood that. Therefore sought to add mystery to recipe of making a sculpture. I decided to add mystery to my sculpture but wanted to make a complete sculpture with mystery in it.
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