Marc Vaux, Vintage Silver Gelatin Photograph Jacques Lipchitz Bronze Sculpture Photo Signed, 1930

Description

Marc Vaux, a figure of Montparnasse, pro­duced a trove of pho­tographs which are cur­rently held in the col­lec­tion of the … more Marc Vaux, a figure of Montparnasse, pro­duced a trove of pho­tographs which are cur­rently held in the col­lec­tion of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France. Marc Vaux was com­mitted equally to sup­porting artists, notably by cre­ating the Foyer des Artistes (1946-70) and, in 1951, the first Musée du Montparnasse at 10, rue de l’Arrivée.
Marc Vaux was born on February 19, 1895 in Crulai, Normandy Thanks to the color mer­chant from whom he bought his plates and his pho­to­graphic equip­ment, he met the sculptor Charles Desvergnes winner of Prix the Rome and author of var­ious memo­rials who was looking for someone to pho­tographs his works. Two of Marc Vaux’s first clients were his neigh­bors of 21 Avenue du Maine- Marie Vassilieff and Maria Blanchard who intro­duced him to Parisian avant-garde artists: Juan Gris, André Lhote, Jacques Lipchitz, Ortiz de Zarate and Jules Pascin. Marc Vaux was also a pho­tog­ra­pher of exhi­bi­tions. He pho­tographed Salon des artistes Français (exclu­sively), Salon des Indépendants, Salon d’Automne as well as Salon des Tuileries. In 1939 he was one of the pho­tog­ra­phers respon­sible of making reportage of the removal of the Louvre. During World War II, he joined the resis­tance: he rented under his name a room where he hid many of the resis­tance fighters wanted by the Gestapo and assured among other things, the devel­op­ment and the illegal dis­tri­bu­tion of a pho­tograph of General de Gaulle.

After the war, in 1946, he opened the Foyer d’Entre Aide aux Artistes in 89 boule­vard du Montparnasse
In 13 of October 1951, Marc Vaux opens the Museum of Montparnasse (Musée du Montparnasse) in 10 Arrivée St. in the former loca­tion of the Académie du Montparnasse. He exhib­ited paint­ings, given by artists such as Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani, Kisling etc. but also let­ters and doc­u­ments that will become of his­tor­ical impor­tance; like the invoice for the burial of Modigliani, Pascin’s will, and of course his own pho­tographs. But this museum was short lived and it closed after few years, a victim of the changing neigh­bour­hood.


Chaim Jacob Lipchitz, 1891-1973, was born in Lithuania and came of age in Paris during the early 20th century, where he was active in the avante-garde community of Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Diego Rivera, Chaim Soutine, and Juan Gris. Art historian H. H. Arnason, who ranked Lipchitz with Picasso and Marc Chagall, wrote, "Lipchitz, as a pure sculptor, is ...unquestionably one of the greatest sculptors of this century."
The architect Philip Johnson asked Lipchitz to make a wall sculpture to be placed on the brick chimney over a fireplace of a guest house owned by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III on West 53rd Street in New York. Lipchitz decided to develop the piece from his Pegasus designs and call it Birth of the Muses in honor of the Rockefellers' interest in the arts. In 1950 he completed the work as a bronze relief five feet high. It was installed as planned and later was acquired by Lincoln Center. He participated in the Flight portfolio (serigraph and lithograph works) organized by Varian Fry to help refugees in the hope of a new life. Eugene Berman, Alexander Calder, Adolph Gottlieb, Wifredo Lam, Joan Miro and Robert Motherwell all contributed artwork. In 1912 he exhibited at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and the Salon d'Automne with his first solo show held at Léonce Rosenberg's Galerie L'Effort Moderne in Paris in 1920. In 1922 he was commissioned by the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania to execute five bas-reliefs.In 1920 Lipchitz held his first solo exhibition, at Léonce Rosenberg's Galerie L'Effort Moderne in Paris. In his later years Lipchitz became more involved in his Jewish faith (he produced several judaica themed artworks including ones with Hebrew calligraphy). He began abstaining from work on Shabbat and put on Tefillin daily, at the urging of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson. Jacques Lipchitz died in Capri, Italy. His body was flown to Jerusalem, Israel for burial. His Tuscan Villa Bozio was donated to Chabad-Lubavitch in Italy and currently hosts an annual Jewish summer camp in its premises. less