Zadkine was a sculptor and printmaker. He was a member of the School of Paris group. . As a boy, Zadkine, son of a professor of Greek and Latin, much preferred drawing and clay modeling to his studies. He was sent to England by his father to learn English, After living alternately in London and Smolensk, his birth place, he moved to Paris, where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and in 1911 had a show of his sculpture. A Cubist at the outset of his career but influenced also by classical Greek sculpture, Zadkine in 1920 began to develop his individual style which also derived inspiration from the surrealists. During World War II Zadkine, because of his Jewish ancestry, fled to the United States, where he taught at the Art Students League in New York City. After the war he returned to France. He received the grand prize for sculpture at the 1950 Venice Biennale, the 1960 grand prix of the city of Paris, and (in the 1960s), commissions for statues in Jerusalem, Amsterdam, and other cities.