Still Life Before Torso by Ben
This superb, still-life painting by the École de Paris artist Jacob Macznik is alive with color and form. While deliberately never super-realistic in technique, he reliably achieves the sense of reality: one feels one could reach out and grab a pear. In the background is a fine depiction of a sculptured torso done by the painter's younger brother, Ben (Bendet/Beniek) Moncznik (later, Munn), who lived with Jacob, his wife Sonia, and her sister Fanny approximately 1937–1939 in Paris. [Ben was a brief and largely unknown member of the École de Paris. Although he survived the Holocaust, he did not return to sculpture. His pre-war sculptures have never surfaced.">
This painting is privately held by the artist's nephew. Denotation of the copyright is embedded within this low resolution image of the painting.
