A painter, but also a sculptor and a poet, he was born in 1884 in Belarus into a modest family of Jewish origin. It was in his native city that he discovered painting, before leaving in 1907 to study at the Fine Arts School in St. Petersburg and start working in the studio of a Russian ballet decorator. Dreaming of discovering Paris, he settled there in 1911. As soon as he arrived, he met writers, poets and artists who lived in "La Ruche". This city of artists located in the 15th arrondissement of the capital has about a hundred workshops where artists of all nationalities live: Soutine, Archipenko, Zadkine, Léger, Delaunay...
