Label Text: Lipchitz created images of embracing couples throughout his artistic career. Whereas earlier works are more violent and sexual, in the 1940s he began to use the motif in a way that is more tender, or, as Lipchitz put it, “even chaste.” Thus, the two bodies in the Mead’s Couple II appear both intimately entwined and harmoniously balanced. According to the artist, everything he did reflected his emotions; at the time he created Couple II, he was happily married to his second wife, Yulla. The Mead’s cast is fourth in an edition of seven, and is signed on the plinth with the sculptor’s name and thumbprint. The work’s small size and rough surface mark it as one of Lipchitz’s many sketches, rather than a final work. The full, curving volumes and the ambiguity of the limbs, which seem unclearly related to either figure, are typical of this stage in the artist’s career, and add a surreal quality to the sculpture. BJ
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