Chana Orloff

Sculptress, graphic artist, applied artist. Born in Tsare-Konstantinovka in Don Province (1888). Worked as a dressmaker after emigrating with her family to Palestine (1904). Moved to Paris against the wishes of her family (1910). Studied at the École nationale des beaux-arts and Académie Marie Vassilieff. Met Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire. Sculpted mostly in wood, later worked in marble, bronze and cement, addressed psychological portraiture, theme of maternity and animalism. Took up graphic art and drew illustrations. Awarded the Légion d’honneur and French citizenship (1925). Lived in occupied France (1940–42), moved to Switzerland, returned to Paris (1945). Settled in Israel (1950), where she designed a series of monuments in Israel. Died in Tel Aviv (1968). Contributed to the Salon d’Automne (from 1913), exhibitions of Russian art in Paris, London, Brussels and Moscow, many international exhibitions and one-woman shows in Paris (1922–24, 1926, 1934), New York (1929, 1938), Chicago (1930), London (1935), Tel Aviv and Jerusalem (1935), Galerie Georg Moos in Geneva (1945) and eightieth anniversary exhibition in Tel Aviv (1968).