Valentine Prax

[1] When she rented the tiny "glass cage" of her studio in 35 Rue Rousselet, she said she became "the captive bird for fifty francs per month.

[4] There, she met Ossip Zadkine, a sculptor of Russian origin, who introduced her to the close-knit world of their avant-garde Montparnasse neighborhood.

As she began gaining recognition among Parisian art lovers, the Galerie Berthe Weill devoted an exhibition to her in January 1924.

"[3] Her husband, Zadkine, who was half-Jewish, fled to the United States for safety while Prax chose to remain in France to protect the couple's art and property.

In 1942, she received word that Zadkine had decided not return to her (he was having a relationship with American artist Carol Janeway); subsequently, the style of her paintings changed, becoming more cubist.

[3] Prax died 15 April 1981 in Paris[3] and bequeathed her entire estate to support a new museum dedicated to her husband's work.

[3][4] One year after her death, the Musée Zadkine was opened in the couple's old Parisian studio by Jacques Chirac, then Mayor of Paris.