Zadkine, Ossip (ŏsēp` zädkēn`), 1890–1967, Russian sculptor who worked in France. Joining the cubists in 1914, Zadkine developed a powerful, original style. He exerted considerable influence upon contemporary sculptors after World War II. Among his best-known works is the public monument The Destruction of Rotterdam (1954).

Zadkine, Ossip

(born July 14, 1890, Smolensk, Russia—died Nov. 25, 1967, Paris, France) Russian-born French sculptor. Educated in England, he moved to Paris in 1909 and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. Influenced by both Cubism and Classical Greek sculpture, he developed a unique figurative style featuring concave and convex forms, lines, and parallel planes. During World War II he taught at New York City's Art Students League. His large bronze To a Destroyed City (1951–53), an homage to Rotterdam, is regarded as a masterpiece. In 1950 he received the grand prize for sculpture at the Venice Biennale, and in the 1960s he received commissions for statues in Jerusalem, Amsterdam, and elsewhere.