Lippy Lipshitz

Lippy Lipshitz
Self Portrait (1948), monotype, 37.5 x 27 cm
Born	Israel-Isaac Lipshitz (1903-05-08)8 May 1903 Plungė, Lithuania
Died	1980 Kiryat Tiv'on, Israel
Nationality	Lithuanian, South African
Known for	Sculpting, Printmaking
Notable work	Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (1946) Moses Striking the Rock (1961) Portrait of Margaret (1956)
Awards	Medal for Sculpture (June 1964) Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns

Israel-Isaac Lipshitz, known as Lippy Lipshitz (8 May 1903 – 17 May 1980) was a South African sculptor, painter and printmaker. He is considered to be one of the most important South African sculptors, along with Moses Kottler and Anton van Wouw.

Israel-Isaac Lipshitz was born on 8 May 1903 as the second son of Shlomeh Josef Lipshitz of Dvinsk and Chayah Meray Faktor of Plungė. His paternal grandparents were of the Jewish Chassidic sect, while his maternal grandparents were of the Misnaged sect In February 1904, Israel's father set out for Cape Town in search of better prospects than were available to him in Plungė. He left his wife and the infant with the paternal grandfather Yankeh Fivah Faktor for the next four-and-a-half years. In his care the young Israel was taught to draw, carve wood and model in dough and candle grease. His grandfather had built the synagogue in Plungian, and it was in the decorative art of the synagogue that Israel first felt the impetus to artistic expression.

In 1908, Israel and his mother travelled to the port of Bremen, from where they arrived in Cape Town on 30 April 1908. In 1909, Israel started attending kindergarten classes at the Constitution Street Public School, where he received drawing instruction by the painter Ruth Prowse, and from 1911 to 1914 attended the Public Schools in Constitution and De Villiers Streets. From 1915 to 1917 he studied at Hope Mill School and matriculated in 1920 from the Normal College in Buitenkant Street. After school he pursued and abandoned a briefly held ambition to become a writer and enrolled, in April 1922, at the Cape Town Art School in Stal Plein.

The Cape Town Art School was run by Mr. P. Thatcher and Mr. C. S. Groves, who imposed a tradition of British academic discipline. Lipshitz developed friendships with painter Russel Harvey and sculptor Moses Kottler. Through Kottler, who had studied at the Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem and in Germany, before settling in Cape Town in 1915, Lipshitz made contact with modern art.