
Seymour Lipton
Oracle: Study for Clairvoyant, 1969

Seymour Lipton is best known for his textured metal sculptures that fuse the traditions of Cubism, Constructivism, and Abstract Expressionism. A contemporary of artists like Jackson Pollock and Arshile Gorky, Lipton was interested in art’s ability to tap into Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious by depicting primal symbols. Lipton’s structured three-dimensional forms manifested an original language of abstract figures that originated in stream-of-consciousness sketchbooks. While Lipton worked on a smaller scale during the first 20 years of his career, he experimented with larger compositions in the 1950s and ’60s. After he received the Guggenheim Award in 1960, several prominent public commissions followed, including his seminal Archangel (1964) that resides in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall.


Seymour Lipton is best known for his textured metal sculptures that fuse the traditions of Cubism, Constructivism, and Abstract Expressionism. A contemporary of artists like Jackson Pollock and Arshile Gorky, Lipton was interested in art’s ability to tap into Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious by depicting primal symbols. Lipton’s structured three-dimensional forms manifested an original language of abstract figures that originated in stream-of-consciousness sketchbooks. While Lipton worked on a smaller scale during the first 20 years of his career, he experimented with larger compositions in the 1950s and ’60s. After he received the Guggenheim Award in 1960, several prominent public commissions followed, including his seminal Archangel (1964) that resides in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall.