Many of these men and women were Jewish artists who came from the major European cities and the Russian Empire in search of artistic, social and religious emancipation. They were not a “school” in the traditional sense since they had no common style but instead shared a history, an ideal and, for some, the same destiny.

Fleeing the pogroms or seeking a free, modern context, these young artists who converged on Paris included Marc Chagall, Chaim Soutine, Amedeo Modigliani, Jules Pascin, Jacques Lipchitz, Chana Orloff, Moïse Kisling, Louis Marcoussis and Ossip Zadkine, and also lesser known artists such as Walter Bondy, Henri Epstein, Adolphe Feder, Alice Halicka, Henri Hayden, Georges Kars, Léon Indenbaum, Simon Mondzain, Mela Muter and many others.

The musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme is devoting an exhibition to this generation of artists who arrived in Paris between 1904 and 1914 and their destinies. It will explore the reasons for their installation there, the particular ties uniting them, the historical and political context of their work and, of course, their participation in the artistic scene in what was then the capital of modern art.

MAHJ