Ossip Zadkine: Man, Myth & Metamorphosis

The work of Russian-French sculptor Ossip Zadkine (1888-1967) is full of mythological figures, including Diane, Narcissus and Orpheus. Zadkine particularly identified with the latter. Just as Orpheus managed with his music to prompt animals, plants and even rocks to dance, so the artist brought material to life with his hands. Zadkine therefore referred to this creative metamorphosis as “the Orphic event”. He also turned his own life story into a myth. The idea of becoming an artist had been revealed to him as a child, he said, when he had fallen with his hand in the clay. From that point on, Zadkine allowed himself to be guided by nature, which he regarded as a source of perpetual change. Text in English and Dutch.