That's my World, ABC Wednesday Z for Zadkine

This statue is called "Destroyed City", We call it "City Without a Heart"or "A Cry to Heaven". It symbolizes the city of Rotterdam after the bombardment in 1940 by the Germans.The whole city was in ruins.The sculptor is Ossip Zadkine (July 14, 1890 – November 25, 1967) a Russian-born artist who lived in France. He is primarily known as a sculptor, but also produced paintings and lithographs.

Zadkine was born as Yossel Aronovich Tsadkin in Vitebsk, Belarus, then part of the Russian Empire. His father was Jewish; his mother was of Scottish ancestry.

After attending art school in London, Zadkine settled in Paris about 1910. There he became part of the new Cubist movement (1914-1925). He later developed his own style, one that was strongly influenced by African art.

Zadkine served as a stretcher-bearer in the French Army during World War I, and was wounded in action. He spent the World War II years in America. His best-known work is probably the sculpture "The Destroyed City" (1953), a memorial to the destruction of the center of the Dutch city Rotterdam by the German Luftwaffe in 1940.


Zadkine taught at his own school of sculpture. He died in Paris in 1967 at the age of 77 and was interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse. His former home and studio is now the Musée Zadkine.

The Nazis destroyed Rotterdam on 14 May 1940, without any warning. When we returned from Indonesia( then Dutch East Indies) in January 1946, the town was one enormous ruin and my mum, who was born and bred in Rotterdam didn't recognize anything of it.

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With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with Z.