Benn Bencion Rabinowicz (1905, Białystok – 1989, Paris), Still Life with Pears

Provenance
private collection, France
private collection, Poland

Biography
From 1926 to 1930, he worked as a theater set designer. In 1927, he held his first exhibition in Białystok; from 1928 onward, he exhibited in Warsaw. In 1929, he received a three-year scholarship to study in Paris, where he attended Fernand Léger’s studio beginning in 1930. He settled permanently in Paris, becoming a French citizen. He was a key figure in the broad international movement known as the Ecole de Paris during the interwar period. He remained faithful to figurative art with a tendency toward geometric stylization. During World War II, he was imprisoned along with his wife in a transit camp; he avoided deportation thanks to the help of Jean Paulhen, who hid him until the end of the war.