Ossip Zadkine - Early Years and Career

Early Years and Career

Zadkine was born as Yossel Aronovich Tsadkin (Russian: Иосель Аронович Цадкин) in Vitebsk (now Belarus, then part of the Russian Empire). His father was Jewish and had converted to the Russian Orthodox religion; his mother was of Scottish ancestry.

After attending art school in London, Zadkine settled in Paris about 1910. There he became part of the new Cubist movement (1914-1925). He later developed his own style, one that was strongly influenced by African art.

Zadkine served as a stretcher-bearer in the French Army during World War I, and was wounded in action. He spent the World War II years in America. His best-known work is probably the sculpture "The Destroyed City" (1951-1953), represents a man without a heart, a memorial to the destruction of the center of the Dutch city Rotterdam in 1940 by the German Luftwaffe.

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