The sculptor Ossip Zadkine, a Russian native, is regarded one of the main representatives of Cubist sculpting. He went to the bustling art metropolis Paris in 1909, where he studied and gradually gained access to avant-garde circles of artists such as Pablo Picasso. Ossip Zadkine possessed mastery in transferring the Cubist style principles, that is the broken perspective and the dissection of forms, to stone, wood and bronze. Among the preferred subjects of Ossip Zadkine is the human figure, which he, based on the block, breaks up on the surface and dissects in a spectral-shaped geometric arrangement. It is only in his late work that the figures become detached from the block, the bodies become more delicate and futuristic, as his striking main work "The Destroyed City" shows. Lithographs, gouaches and etchings, which follow the same principles as his sculptures, complete the oeuvre.
The Musée Zadkine in Paris honors the fascinating oeuvre of the artist. Other works by Ossip Zadkine are in possession of collections such as the Tate Collection in London.