Museum Zadkine in Paris

In a hidden corner of rue d’Assas, Paris, is a small art gallery/museum dedicated to Cubist Ossip Zadkine.

Russian-born Ossip Zadkine (1888-1967) was a sculptor, living in Paris. Born Yossel Aronovich Tsadkin in Vitsebsk in the Russian Empire, which is now in Belarus, his father was Jewish and his mother is believed to be Scottish. Ossip moved to the United Kingdom when he was 15 years old, and to Paris in 1910 at the age of 22. He obtained French citizenship in 1921.

Ossip and his wife, painter Valentine Prax, lived in the studio apartment on rue d’Assas for more than 40 years. It was converted into a museum in 1932 and renovated in 2012.

On display are sculptures in wood, stone, plaster, bronze, and clay, both inside and outside, including ‘Rebecca’ (the water carrier) and ‘Monument à la Ville détruite de Rotterdam’ (Monument to the destroyed city of Rotterdam).

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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