Marlborough Fine Art, London
Galerie Theo, Madrid (acquired from the above in 1973)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Lipchitz, The Cubist Period, 1913-1930 (exhibition catalogue), Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1968, no. 40, illustration of another cast n.p.
Jacques Lipchitz: Sculptures and Drawings (exhibition catalogue), Marlborough Fine Art, London & Marlborough Galerie, Zürich, 1973, no. 9, illustration of another cast p. 40
Alan G. Wilkinson, The Sculpture of Jacques Lipchitz: A Catalogue Raisonné. The Paris Years 1910-1940, London, 1996, vol. I, no. 110, illustration of another cast p. 55

Attractive dark brown patina. Apart from some very light patina rubbing to the edges of the contours and minor surface dirt in the recesses, this work is in very good condition.
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Conceived eleven years after Lipchitz's arrival in Paris from Vilna, this full-length sculpture of a standing figure playing a mandolin exemplifies the artist's exploration of Cubism in a three-dimensional medium.  Lipchitz received a traditi🧔onal training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Julian, but early in his career displayed an interest in a wide range of sculptural styles, from classical to tribal. During his early years in Paris, Lipchitz met many of the leading figures of the Parisian avant-garde, who introduced him to new artistic interpret♋ations, including the principles of Cubism. 

By 1920, when he executed the model for Arlequin à la mandoline, Lipchitz had developed an attuned sense of spatial composition influenced largely by his study of the Cubist works of Picasso, Braque and Gris. The artist was now able to translate effectively his two-dimensional conceptions into a three-dimensional form. Lipchitz utilized themes from the Commedia dell'arte that had become common currency in the work of Picasso, Gris and many of their contemporaries. He referred to this interest in his autobiography: 'One of the first sculptures made in 1919 was the Arlequin à l'accordéon. It reflects my interest in eighteenth century paintings, particularly that of Watteau ... The Pierrots and harlequins were part of our general vocabulary, characters taken from the Commedia dell'arte, particularly popular in the eighteenth century. We may have been attracted to them originally because of their gay traditional costumes, involving many different colored areas' (J. Lipchitz in My Life in Sculpture, New York, 1972, p. 58).                      

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Jacques Lipchitz in his studio, circa 1923