1922-1924

Musical Instruments with Bunch of Grapes

American (born Lithuania), 1891 - 1973

This plaster cast of one of Lipchitz's limestone wall reliefs for the Barnes Foundation building reveals how he used unusually deep undercutting to produce strong contrasts of light and shadow, thus making the composition visible from a considerable distance. Lipchitz, who suffered from bursitis, hired a professional stonemason to cut the limestone block and rough out the arrangement before finishing the details himself. He combined the fruit and the musical instruments with abstract shapes to create an integrated design, like a jigsaw puzzle in which interlocking pieces fit together to create a harmonious pictorial image.