Moses Breaking the Tablets of Law

Lippy Lipshitz

1947

Abstract painting depicting a man, angled away from the viewer and with a long beard, raising tablets to the sky.
Though Lippy Lipshitz was best known as a sculptor, he produced a small body of paintings, including this watercolor. Its dark palette is similar to that of other pictures he made in the 1940s, including monotypes and woodcuts. Here Moses is drawn in a way that suggests the three-dimensionality of a sculpted figure.

Credits

Private collection. © Estate of Israel-Isaac (Lippy) Lipshitz.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 9.

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Creator Bio

Lippy Lipshitz

1903–1980

Israel-Isaac Lipshitz, known as Lippy Lipshitz, was a prominent South African sculptor and graphic artist. Lipshitz was born in Lithuania, and moved to Cape Town at age five. Lipshitz’s artistic formation began at the Cape Town School of Art and continued at the Michaelis School of Fine Art. In 1928, he moved to Paris for four years to study under the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle. Lipshitz then returned to South Africa, where he taught at the University of Cape Town. He is best known for his sculptural work, although he also experimented with a variety of graphic media, including drawing, printmaking, and painting. Toward the end of his life, in 1978, Lipshitz moved to Israel, settling near Haifa.

Related Guide

Visual and Material Culture in the Mid-Twentieth Century

1939–1973

Jewish visual art flourished and diversified in the postwar period, reflecting the social and political transformations taking place in the world.

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