Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz [SEP] creator
Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz
Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz is a 1916 oil on canvas painting by Amedeo Modigliani. It depicts Modigliani's friend, the sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, standing alongside his seated wife Berthe.
Modigliani and Lipchitz had each moved to France at a young age, were both from Jewish backgrounds, and became close friends who frequented the same artistic circles in Paris. Despite their commonalities, there were marked differences: Lipchitz exemplified artistic industriousness while Modigliani was given to bohemian dissolution.
Before painting "Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz
can continue." The portrait occupied Modigliani for nearly two weeks, "probably the longest time he ever worked on one painting."
One of only two double portraits painted by Modigliani, "Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz" has been noted for its complex and enigmatic study of contrasting personalities. Lipchitz is shown with his wife Berthe Kitrosser, a Russian poet, in their Paris apartment that had previously been the home of the sculptor Constantin Brâncuși. Posed in front of an abstracted architectural interior, Lipchitz is handsomely dressed, and