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Separated for Nearly a Century: Ossip Zadkine’s Sculptures Reunited in Antwerp
A major exhibition opening at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp brings together works by the twentieth-century sculptor Ossip Zadkine, including figures from a composition separated almost a century ago. The exhibition also examines Belgium’s largely overlooked contribution to the artist’s international career.
A group of sculptures separated for 98 years has been reunited in Antwerp as part of a major exhibition exploring the career of Ossip Zadkine, one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century European sculpture.
The exhibition, Ossip Zadkine and Belgium, opens on 31st October at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) and runs until 18 April 2027.
Its centrepiece is The Friends of Job, a wooden sculptural composition created in 1913 and inspired by the biblical story of Job.
One of the figures, Elihu, was sold separately in 1928. The exhibition brings it back together with the remaining figures for the first time in almost a century.
The reunion is part of a broader exhibition containing 130 works, including sculptures, drawings, paintings and archival material, assembled from collections in Belgium, France and elsewhere.
Beyond the rediscovery of an early composition, the museum is seeking to reassess Zadkine’s artistic development and the contribution of Belgian collectors, galleries and fellow artists to his international reputation.
The Belgian Origins of an International Career
Zadkine was born in 1888 in Vitebsk, then part of the Russian Empire and now in Belarus.
He developed an early interest in sculpture and subsequently spent time in Britain, where he learned woodcarving techniques from his uncle.
He later moved to Paris, becoming associated with the artistic circles that transformed European painting and sculpture during the early twentieth century.
Among his contemporaries were Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall.
Although Paris became the principal centre of his artistic career, Belgium played an important role in establishing his reputation.
In 1920, Zadkine held an exhibition in Antwerp at the invitation of the Brussels-based Galerie Sélection.
His work attracted attention from Belgian collectors and critics, providing opportunities that helped him develop his distinctive approach to sculpture.
He subsequently exhibited alongside Flemish Expressionists, including Constant Permeke, Gustave De Smet and Frits Van den Berghe.
His first major retrospective took place in Brussels in 1933, at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, now known as BOZAR.
Reflecting on his early career, Zadkine acknowledged the importance of this support, writing: “Les Belges étaient mes premiers amateurs” — the Belgians were his first admirers.
The exhibition examines how this network of collectors, gallery owners and artists influenced his development and helped establish connections between Belgian artistic circles and the wider European avant-garde.
Sculpture Between Cubism and Expressionism
Zadkine’s work developed through several artistic movements, incorporating elements of Cubism while retaining an emphasis on human expression and emotion.
His sculptures frequently combine angular forms with figures that appear fragmented, elongated or dramatically distorted.
Working in wood, stone and other materials, he explored the relationship between the physical structure of sculpture and the emotional experience of its subject.
His early preference for direct carving, in which an artist works directly into the material rather than reproducing a preliminary model, remained an important part of his technique.
The composition The Friends of Job belongs to this formative period.
Its reunion provides an opportunity to consider how Zadkine approached the human figure before developing the more expressive sculptural language associated with his mature work.
The exhibition also presents works by contemporaries including Chagall, Modigliani and Jacques Lipchitz, placing Zadkine within the international artistic environment in which he worked.
The Role of Valentine Prax
An important part of the exhibition concerns Zadkine’s wife, the painter Valentine Prax, whom he married in 1920.
Prax was an artist in her own right and played a significant role in managing the financial and organisational aspects of their careers.
Her work was also exhibited in Belgium, and the Antwerp exhibition includes examples of her artistic production alongside that of her husband.
During the Second World War, Zadkine, who was Jewish, left occupied Europe for the United States.
Prax remained in France, helping protect his works during the conflict.
The exhibition examines their artistic relationship and the contribution of Prax to the preservation and development of Zadkine’s career.
It also places their experience within the wider history of European artists whose lives and work were disrupted by war and exile.
A Lasting Connection with Antwerp
Zadkine’s relationship with Belgium continued after the Second World War.
An Antwerp shipowner connected with the Compagnie Maritime Belge helped transport his works back to Europe from New York.
The sculptor subsequently participated in Antwerp’s first Middelheim sculpture biennial.
He also contributed to discussions about establishing a permanent outdoor sculpture collection in the city.
Together with British sculptor Henry Moore, Zadkine became associated with the development of what would become the Middelheim Museum.
His work consequently forms part of Antwerp’s broader history as a centre for modern and contemporary sculpture.
The KMSKA itself holds nine works by Zadkine, including The Misery of Job, which the artist donated to the museum.
Reconstructing a European Artistic Network
The exhibition has been organised in collaboration with the Musée Zadkine in Paris.
Of the 130 works assembled, 20 come from the KMSKA’s collection, 50 from the Paris museum and another 60 from other museums and private collections.
The accompanying archival material provides evidence of the relationships that connected artists, collectors and galleries across national borders.
For the museum, the exhibition represents an opportunity to reconstruct a chapter of European art history that has received comparatively limited attention.
Zadkine’s international reputation is closely associated with Paris, but his early success depended in significant part on support from Antwerp and Brussels.
The reunion of The Friends of Job gives this historical reassessment a particular focus.
Almost a century after its component figures were separated, the composition can once again be considered as a group, while the wider exhibition places its creator within the artistic networks that shaped modern European sculpture.
