Pierrot with a Clarinet

The Pierrot, the ‘sad clown’ of the Italian commedia dell’arte, and a beloved character in 19^th century French vaudeville, captured the imagination of Modernist artists across various art forms. In the sculpture by Jacques Lipchitz (1891–1973), the Pierrot is portrayed holding a clarinet, rendered in the artist’s distinct Cubist style, which Lipchitz himself described as ‘a prototype of simplified Cubist geometric compositions’. The sculpture is a quintessential example of Lipchitz’s early Cubist works. Bathers, musicians and harlequins emerged as the three central themes in his work between 1917 and 1920, embodying the essence of Cubist iconography.

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album THE ART OF MATERIALS. Compiler and text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

The Pierrot, the ‘sad clown’ of the Italian commedia dell’arte, and a beloved character in 19^th century French vaudeville, captured the imagination of Modernist artists across various art forms. In the sculpture by Jacques Lipchitz (1891–1973), the Pierrot is portrayed holding a clarinet, rendered in the artist’s distinct Cubist style, which Lipchitz himself described as ‘a prototype of simplified Cubist geometric compositions’. The sculpture is a quintessential example of Lipchitz’s early Cubist works. Bathers, musicians and harlequins emerged as the three central themes in his work between 1917 and 1920, embodying the essence of Cubist iconography.

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album THE ART OF MATERIALS. Compiler and text author Jurgita Ludavičienė