THE ART OF LIVING

As a material, wood occupied a special place in Zadkine’s life as an artist. Can you tell us more about this?
It was incredibly important to him and his earlier works in particular show this. He chooses it for its sensuous qualities and its great lyrical possibilities which are such a vital part of his lyrical realism. He always shows the material great respect, here for example the figures of the mother and child almost emerge from within the original block from which they are carved with great empathy for the material and form working together.

Zadkine lived and worked in pre-World War I Paris, among artists such as Léger, Archipenko, Chagall, Modigliani and Picasso. How did this milieu affect his art?
Since 1909 Zadkine lived in Paris and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts . He was exhibiting at that time at the Salons and was relishing the artist’s life in Montparnasse. In 1913 he met Picasso and Cubism, Dalauney, Brancusi and Archipenko. He also met Rodin and Matisse. In his free time he went to the Louvre where he saw Egyptian sculptures. These exhibits made a major impression on Zadkine and you can see this reflected in his sculptures and in this work Maternité. The Ecole des Beaux-Art and the art at the Salons didn’t inspire him greatly, only Rodin was a great example for him. Cubism also didn’t exert an influence on his work at that time.

This is a very lyrical and sensitive piece. What was Zadkine trying to express here?
In it we see motherhood, and sensitivity, love and softness. It is a very direct expression of a very tender subject and a piece that the artist himself clearly felt was successful. The work was in fact acquired directly from the artist’s studio and we have a letter from Zadkine dated 6 July 1923 in which he writes that he is extremely happy that the collector has purchased Maternité which he considers to be one of his best sculptures and he hopes it will be appreciated.