born July 14, 1890, Smolensk, Russia
died Nov. 25, 1967, Paris, France
Russian-born French sculptor.
Educated in England, he moved to Paris in 1909 and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. Influenced by both Cubism and Classical Greek sculpture, he developed a unique figurative style featuring concave and convex forms, lines, and parallel planes. During World War II he taught at New York City's Art Students League. His large bronze To a Destroyed City (1951–53), an homage to Rotterdam, is regarded as a masterpiece. In 1950 he received the grand prize for sculpture at the Venice Biennale, and in the 1960s he received commissions for statues in Jerusalem, Amsterdam, and elsewhere.