Art heritage associated with Belarus in the museums of the world

Osip Zadkine was born on June 14, 1890 in Vitebsk. From the archival documents of the period of Zadkine's studies at the Vitebsk city four-year school (in 1900-1902 in the same class with the future artists Marc Chagall and Viktor Mekler) it follows that he graduated from school in 1904.

Osip's father was an expert and teacher of classical languages ​​- Greek and Latin. His mother came from a noble Scottish family, and in 1905 the young man was sent to his cousin's uncle in the north of England, where he improved his English and took sculpture lessons at the local art school. In 1906-1909. lived in London, regularly visited the British Museum, studied at the Ecole Polytechnique.

Since 1910, Zadkine settled in Paris, Montparnasse, and worked at the Houllier. There he became close to Apollinaire, Brancusi, Picasso, Bourdel, Matisse, Delaunay and Modigliani. In 1911, his works were exhibited at the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Independents.

In 1914-1915. exhibited in Berlin and London, but achieved the greatest success in Brussels, The Hague and Amsterdam. Collectors from Belgium and the Netherlands were the first to buy his sculptures. Now the Zadkine Foundation, which deals with his creative heritage, is located in Brussels.

Zadkine participated in the First World War as part of the French army. In 1915 he volunteered for the army, worked as an orderly in a field hospital. Demobilized in 1917 after gas poisoning.

Since 1921, Zadkine's exhibitions have been held in Tokyo and Grenoble. In 1925, his works were awarded a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris.

During World War II, Zadkine was in the United States, then returned to Paris.

In the 1950s, Zadkine's workshop, along with Fernand Léger's, was part of the Accademia Grand-Chaumiere in Paris, where Zadkine taught until 1958. People came to him to study from all over the world. Zadkine's workshop has become a place of study for many contemporary sculptors, including Georgy Shugerman and Richard Stankevich.

Large retrospective exhibitions of Zadkine sculpture were held in the post-war years in the national museums of Amsterdam, Paris and Rotterdam. The giant retrospective opened in 1966 at the Kunstmuseum Zurich.

Osip Zadkine died on November 25, 1967 in Paris, where he was buried in the Montparnasse cemetery.