The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (277 page)

(1891–1973).
Lithuanian-born sculptor who worked mainly in France and then in the USA. After studying engineering in Lithuania he moved to Paris in 1909. By about 1912 he was part of a circle of avant-grade artists including
Matisse
,
Modigliani
, and
Picasso
, and from 1914 he became one of the first sculptors to apply the principles of
Cubism
in three dimensions (
Man with Guitar
, MOMA, New York, 1916). During the 1920s his style changed, as he became preoccupied with open forms and the interpenetration of solids and voids. He took French nationality in 1925 but in 1941– by this time an internationally renowned figure—he fled to the USA, settling at Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. In America he returned to greater solidity of form, but with a desire for greater spirituality. At times the tortured, bloated forms of his late work, as in
Prometheus Strangling the Vulture
(Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1944–53), look rather like inflated shrubbery.

 
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(
c.
1457–1504).
Florentine painter, the son and pupil of Filippo
Lippi
, who died when the boy was about 12. He also studied with
Botticelli
and learned much from his expressive use of line, but Filippino's style, although sensitive and poetic, is more robust than his master's. His first major commission (1484) was the completion of
Masaccio's
fresco cycle in the Brancacci Chapel of Sta Maria del Carmine, a task he carried out with such skill and tact that it is sometimes difficult to tell where his work begins and that of more than half a century earlier ends. Filippino painted several other frescos, the most important of which are cycles on the life to St Thomas Aquinas (1488–93) in the Caraffa Chapel, Sta Maria sopra Minerva, Rome, and the lives of S. S. Philip and John (1495–1502) in the Strozzi Chapel, Sta Maria Novella, Florence. In these he strove for picturesque, dramatic and even bizarre effects that reveal him as one of the most inventive of late
quattrocento
painters. Filippino also painted many altarpieces, the most famous of which is
The Vision of St Bernard
(Badia, Florence,
c.
1480), an exquisitely tender work, full of beautiful detail. Although he is now somewhat overshadowed by Botticelli , Filippino enjoyed a great reputation in his lifetime, being described by Lorenzo de'
Medici
as ‘superior to
Apelles
’.

 
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(
c.
1406–69).
Florentine painter. He was brought up as an unwanted child in the Carmelite friary of the Carmine, where he took his vows in 1421. Unlike the Dominican Fra
Angelico
, however, Lippi was a reluctant friar and had a scandalous love affair with a nun, Lucrezia Buti , who bore his son Filippino and a daughter Alessandra . The couple were released from their vows and allowed to marry, but Lippi still signed himself ‘Frater Philippus ’. His biography (romantically embroidered to include capture by pirates) is one of the most colourful in
Vasari's
Lives
and has given rise to the picture of a worldly
Renaissance
artist, rebelling against the discipline of the Church-an image reflected in Robert Browning's poem about Lippi (‘Fra Lippo Lippi’ in
Men and Women
, 1855). He must certainly have had a more eventful life than most, but there is little documentary evidence of his character and personality. Vasari writes that Lippi was inspired to become a painter by watching
Masaccio
at work in the Carmine church, and his early work, notably the
Tarquinia Madonna
(Galleria Nazionale, Rome, 1437) is certainly overwhelmingly influenced by him. From about 1440, however, his style changed direction, becoming more linear and preoccupied with decorative motifs—thin, fluttering draperies, brocades, etc. Lippi is associated particularly with paintings of the Virgin and Child, which are sometimes in the form of
tondi
, a format he was among the first to use—a beautiful example, showing the wistful delicacy and exquisite pale lighting that characterizes his best work, is in the Pitti, Florence. Another formal innovation with which Lippi is closely associated is the
sacra conversazione
—his
Barbadori
Altarpiece (Louvre, Paris, begun 1437) is sometimes claimed as the earliest example of the type. As a fresco painter Lippi's finest achievement is his cycle on the lives of SS. Stephen and John the Baptist (1452–66) in Prato Cathedral. Lippi was highly regarded in his day (he was patronized by the
Medici
, who came to his aid when he was imprisoned and tortured for alleged fraud) and his influence is seen in the work of numerous artists, most notably
Botticelli
, who was probably his pupil. Four centuries later he was one of the major sources for the second wave of
Pre-Raphaelitism
.

 
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Lipton , Seymour
.

See
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
.

 
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Lismer , Arthur
.

See
GROUP OF SEVEN
.

 
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