KMSKA presents Ossip Zadkine and Belgium
The untold story behind a global career
With Ossip Zadkine and Belgium, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) unveils a little-known chapter in the life and work of the world-renowned Russian-born sculptor Ossip Zadkine. From 31 October to 18 April 2027, visitors can explore more than a hundred sculptures, works on paper, archive documents and top-quality loans. For the first time, this exhibition highlights the surprising role Belgium played in the international career of this visionary artist.
“Les Belges étaient mes premiers amateurs.” With these words, Zadkine recalled the country where his artistic career first took off. Regarded as one of the most influential sculptors of the twentieth century, Zadkine is a key figure of the international avant-garde. However, his artistic breakthrough did not happen in Paris, but in Antwerp and Brussels. Here, a close-knit network of gallery owners, collectors and fellow artists, became the springboard that launched his career.
Ossip Zadkine and Belgium presents this story for the first time. Through sculptures, gouaches, drawings, letters, photographs and archive documents, the exhibition traces the artist’s journey from his early work to his first encounters with the Belgian art scene, revealing how these experiences sparked a lifelong connection with the country.
Zadkine’s story shows how encounters and collaboration can lead to innovation. The fact that he found a creative network in Antwerp which helped establish the foundations for his international breakthrough underlines our city’s role as a breeding ground for ideas and talent. The museum continues to promote that tradition of artistic cross-fertilisation to this day.
An eventful trajectory
As a child, Zadkine discovered his passion for sculpture whilst playing with the clay soil from his native region in the Russian Empire, now Belarus. He learned wood carving from his uncle in Great Britain, thereby laying the foundations for his preference for the technique called ‘taille directe’ whereby he cuts and carves directly into wood or stone, without any prior plan. When Zadkine moved to Paris as a young man, he connected with avant-garde artists, forming a close friendship with Modigliani and also meeting Picasso. In Paris, he took his first steps into the art world and began studying at the academy. However, the rather conservative style prevalent there did not appeal to him.
In 1920, at the invitation of the Brussels-based Galerie Sélection, Zadkine’s first exhibition took place in Antwerp where his distinctive visual idiom was well received. With this encouraging support, he soon began experimenting with Cubism, taking up modelling and working with plaster to create an increasingly fluid and expressive style. Zadkine exhibited in galleries such as Le Centaure in Brussels, alongside Flemish Expressionists such as Constant Permeke, Frits Van den Berghe and Gustave De Smet. In addition, he was given his first major retrospective exhibition at the Centre for Fine Arts (Palais des Beaux-Arts) in Brussels. Zadkine had become an integral part of the Belgian art scene.
The turbulent circumstances of the Second World War took him to the United States and back to France, but Belgium would continue to play an important role throughout his life. As well as forming lasting friendships, the artist was given the opportunity to exhibit his work here, to expand his oeuvre, and he was involved in the founding of the Middelheim Museum and the Antwerp Sculpture Biennials.
Ossip Zadkine and Belgium also highlights the crucial role and work of his wife and fellow artist, Valentine Prax. Following their marriage in 1920, she too exhibited her art for the first time in Belgium. Throughout her life, Prax would take charge of the financial and logistical aspects of their artistic careers. During the war, she even remained in France to safeguard Zadkine’s body of work.
An artist in perspective
For this exhibition, KMSKA has brought together no fewer than 130 works, 20 of which are from its own collection, 50 from the musée Zadkine in Paris, and a further 60 from other museums and private collections in Belgium and abroad. Alongside Zadkine himself, the exhibition deliberately makes room for the people around him. Visitors will discover how his career took shape thanks to a network of Flemish Expressionists, collectors, gallery owners and patrons, including André De Ridder, Paul-Gustave van Hecke, Gustave De Smet and Jozef Cantré. Works by contemporaries such as Marc Chagall, Jacques Lipchitz and Amedeo Modigliani also place Zadkine’s story within the international avant-garde in whose circles he moved.
With Ossip Zadkine and Belgium, KMSKA is, for the first time, mapping out the Belgian context that nurtured Zadkine’s impressive career. Simultaneously, the exhibition presents Belgium not only as a historical market for innovative art, but also as an active meeting place for a global artistic network.
