Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973)

Following his escape from France in 1941 to America, Lipchitz turned often to Jewish ceremonial and historical subjects. In the present powerful sculpture, Lipchitz depicts the biblical story of Hagar, the Egyptian maidservant of Sarah, wife of Abraham. Unable to conceive, Sarah encourages Abraham to have a child with Hagar. Once Hagar becomes pregnant with her son Ishmael, however, she is treated poorly by Sarah and flees. Cast out into the desert without water, Hagar, in her despair, heard an angel's voice that roused her to hope and in a vision was shown the spring that was her salvation. Here Lipchitz has imagined the motherly protection of Hagar as she offers her child comfort and refuge in her arms. She looks heavenward for aid with a mixture of despair and hope. The enlarged limbs and rhetorical gestures, angular forms, and roughly modeled surfaces of Hagar dans le désert convey the passion of the unremitting human struggle for existence.

Lipchitz conceived of Hagar and her son in a series of three finished sculptures: the first two were created in 1948 and 1949, but the third, Hagar dans le désert, was not completed until 1957. The present enlarged version was the last monumental bronze Lipchitz created.