Liseuse (Woman Reading)

Inscriptions

Signed, on back of figure: J.L.; inscribed, on bottom of base: 4/7

Label

Jacques Lipchitz was best known for sculptures that translated Cubism’s geometric analysis of subject matter into three-dimensional form. His earliest Cubist sculptures display the influence of Picasso’s 1912 guitar “constructions”—sculptures made from ephemeral and rustic materials such as sheet metal and cardboard that coalesced into three-dimensional Cubist forms. For Lipchitz, a Cubist vocabulary in three dimensions often suggested a figure struggling to free itself from an angular, machine-like structure. In Woman Reading, he presents the figure of a seated woman in a quiet moment of reading and reflection, yet her form is uncomfortably fused to the chair on which she sits, and the pages of her book become extensions of her hands, as if she is caught in a moment of transformation.

Beginning in 1914 and 1915, Lipchitz produced a number of bronzes that brilliantly explored the potential of Cubism as a sculptural language. This small terracotta is a preparatory work for one of those bronzes—it corresponds to a subject that he explored in a series of works cast from a 1919 sculpture titled The Reader. Lipchitz designed these pieces in a manner that defied traditional conventions of sculpture as a static, commemorative art form. At the heart of all of his early creations, no matter how abstract they appeared, was an anthropomorphic focus. Over the course of his long career, Lipchitz created a variety of forms, believing that Cubism could be infinitely modified to express individual feelings and emotions.

From the 2019 exhibition Cubism and Its Aftershocks, curated by John R. Stomberg Ph.D, Virginia Rice Kelsey 1961s Director

Course History

ARTH 16.2, Picasso: The Vollard Suite, Michael R. Taylor, Fall 2013

THEA 90, Contemporary Practices in U.S. Theater, Laurie Cherba Kohn, Fall 2013

WRIT 5, The Waste Land, Before and After, Melissa Zeiger, Fall 2013

THEA 17, 19th and 20th century Performance, Laura Edmondson, Spring 2014

SART 23, Figure Sculpture, Leslie Fry, Spring 2019

ARTH 41.02, 20th Century European Art 1900-1945, Katie Hornstein, Fall 2021

Exhibition History

A Collector's Choice, William B. Jaffe Memorial Exhibition, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 8, 1972-January 7, 1973.

An Introduction of the History of Art from the Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth Century, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Art 2, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 12-March 15, 1992.

Barrows Print Room, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 5-24, 1974.

Churchill P. Lathrop at Dartmouth 1928-1978, Strauss & Barrows Galleries & Barrows Windows, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 20-November 26, 1978.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 28, 2002-July 20, 2003.

Collectanea: The Museum as Hunter and Gatherer, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 21, 2005-February 12, 2006.

Cubism and Its Affinities, Strauss and Barrows Galleries, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 9-September 5, 1976.

Cubism and Its Aftershocks, Citrin Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26, 2019-November 27, 2019.

Cubism and Its Influence, Barrows Print Room, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 2-March 30, 1975.

Cubism and Its Legacy, Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 17-December 20, 2013.

Cubism, Carpenter Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 11-28, 1977.

Cubism: From Advanced Art History Seminar to Museum Installation, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 28, 2004-February 20, 2005.

Early Modern Art from the Permanent Collection, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 16, 1995-April 7, 1996.

European Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 30, 2008-March 8, 2009.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 17, 2000-July 28, 2002.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 20, 2011.

Jacques Lipchitz Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; Walker Art Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, 1953-1954. [Loan no. 53.2737]

Jaffe-Friede Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 11-September 7, 1975.

Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 10-December 9, 1994.

Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 29, 1996-June 22, 1997.

Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 8, 1993-September 2, 1994.

Modernism: The Making of the 20th Century Vision, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 22-July 8, 1990.

Sculpture and Sculptor's Drawings, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, SArt 16,21, and 73, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 20-October 7, 1996.

Selections from the Permanent Collection: An Introduction to the History of Art From the Year 1500 to the Present, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, SArt 2, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 11-March 7, 1993.

The Machine in the Garden: Cubist Art from the Hood Collection, Harrington Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 26-August 24, 1986.

The Protean Century, 1870-1970, A Loan Exhibition from The Dartmouth College Collection, Alumni and Friends of the College [under the auspices of the Dartmouth Arts Council], M. Knoedler & Company, Inc, New York, New York, February 10-28, 1970, no. 36.

Twentieth Century Masters from the Permanent Collection, Barrows Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 3-March 5, 1978.

Twentieth Century Works from the Dartmouth Collection, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 19-May 29, 1988.

Publication History

Treasures of the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, New York: Hudson Hill Press, 1985, p. 128.

T. Barton Thurber, European Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2008, pp. 108-109, ill. p.108, no. 55.

Brian P. Kennedy and Emily Shubert Burke, Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2009 p.103, Fig.1.

John R. Stomberg, The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019, p. 142, ill. plate no. 73.

Provenance

Collection of Curt Valentin (1902-1954), New York, date unknown; Edward R. Lubin, Inc., New York, New York; sold to present collection, 1965.

This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.

We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu

Subjects