Born on July 14, 1890 in Smolensk, Belarus of Jewish extraction, he is primarily known as a sculptor but also produced paintings and lithographs.
After attending art school in London, England, Zadkine settled in Paris about 1910, where he became part of the new Cubist movement (1914 - 1925). After this time, he developed an original style, strongly influenced by primitive arts.
He served as a stretcher-bearer in World War I, and was wounded in action. He spent the years of World War II in exile in America.
His best-known work is probably the sculpture "The Destroyed City", a memorial to the wanton destruction of the center of Rotterdam by the Germans in 1940. [1]
He taught at his Zadkine School of Sculpture.
Ossip Zadkine died on November 25, 1967 in Paris, France and was interred in the Cimetiere de Montparnasse, Paris.
There is a Zadkine Museum in Paris, France.