Henri Epstein (Jewish-Polish, 1892-1944)

Henri Epstein was a Jewish-Polish painter closely associated with École de Paris. He was educated at a drawing school in Łodz and the School of Fine Arts in Munich. He first visited Paris in 1912 and settled there a year later. He pursued further studies at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Epstein lived and worked at La Ruche, where he was close with Amedeo Modigliani, Chaim Soutine, and Pinchus Kremegne.

Epstein exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants, the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Tuileries in Paris. His works were included in the exhibition Condemned. Forgotten. Rediscovered. The Fate of Expressive Art in the 20th Century, held at the Kulturgeschichtes Museum, Osnabrück in 2001. The aim of the exhibition was to bring to light a generation of artists who were oppressed and persecuted by the Nazis during the war. 

Henri Epstein remained in Paris when the war broke out, he was arrested in February 1944 and deported to Auschwitz in June.