Lippy Lipshitz (1903–1980) was a Plungė-born South African sculptor of Lithuanian Jewish origin, regarded as one of the country's most important sculptors. He studied under Antoine Bourdelle in Paris, co-founded the progressive New Group in 1938 and exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1950; the South African National Gallery holds his work. A champion of modernism, he was drawn to woodcarving and West African sculpture, and developed monotype printing with Wolf Kibel.
Lippy Lipshitz (Israel-Isaac Lipshitz; 1903–1980) was a South African sculptor of Lithuanian Jewish origin. Born in Plungė, Lithuania, he joined his father in Cape Town with his mother in 1908. He studied at the Cape Town Art School from 1922, and from 1925 the Russian-born sculptor Herbert Vladimir Meyerowitz became his mentor, introducing him to woodcarving and West African sculpture. From 1928 to 1932 he lived in Paris, studying under Antoine Bourdelle at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, and in 1929 his work was accepted at the Salon d’Automne. It was in Paris that he adopted the name “Lippy” to distinguish himself from the Cubist sculptor Jacques Lipchitz. Back in Cape Town, he championed modernism and from 1932 to 1937 shared the Palm Studios with the painter Wolf Kibel, with whom he developed monotype printing. In 1938 he was a co-founder of the New Group, which promoted progressive art in South Africa. He exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1950, taught at the Michaelis School of Fine Art from that year, and in 1978 emigrated to Israel, where he died in Kiryat Tiv’on. He is regarded, together with Moses Kottler and Anton van Wouw, as one of the most important South African sculptors, and the South African National Gallery holds several of his works. The bronze “Bust of Wolf Kibel”, offered by TUMO Gallery, portrays his friend and studio companion, the Polish-born painter who played a key role in early South African modernism.
