Valentine Henriette Prax (French, 1897-1981) 

Valentine Henriette Prax was a highly successful artist, closely associated with École de Paris. She was of Sicilian and Catalan heritage and was brought up in Algeria. From an early age, she had a passion for art and spent three years at the École des Beaux-arts in Algiers, but had her eyes set on Paris. She moved there in 1919. Prax didn't know anyone in Paris, rented a very small studio, and struggled to make ends meet. By chance, her studio was in the same building as that of Russian sculptor Ossip Zadkine. They met, and soon Zadkine introduced her to the avant-garde circle of Montparnasse. They travelled around France, painting together and staying in the homes of other artists. Valentine Prax had her first solo exhibition at Galerie Mouninou in April 1920, followed by another solo show in December 1921 at the Galerie La Licorne.

Prax and Zadkine got married in August 1920. The two artists were very close and had a significant influence on each other's artistic processes. This is particularly present in their work from the 1930s. Valentine Prax continued to exhibit with great success in Paris and Brussels. In May 1926 she signed a contract with Galerie Barbazanges which numbered Charles Dufresne and the sculptor Despiau amongst its protégés.

During World War II, Prax convinced Zadkine to emigrate to the United States while she remained in France to protect their artworks. She lived in extreme poverty and endured many hardships during the occupation, these feelings translated into her art. She later confessed that the war period was the best for her artistic production. Her war-time paintings were revealed to the public at Galerie d’Art du Faubourg in May 1950, the Salon des Tuileries in 1951 and the Salon d’Automne in 1952, with enormous success.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Valentine Prax continued to exhibit: Katia Granoff Gallery in 1963 featured 50 of her works; Galerie Chappe-Lautier in Toulouse in 1968; Galerie René Drouet in Paris in 1968, 1971, and 1973; the City of Paris Musée d’Art Moderne in 1976. Ossip Zadkine died in 1967. Much of Valentine Prax's efforts were also focused on creating the Zadkine Museum, she successfully organised an exhibition at Paris City Hall to commemorate her donation of a large part of Zadkine's work to the City of Paris in 1978. Valentine Prax died in 1981 and bequeathed all of her processions to the City of Paris. Just a year later, in April 1982, Musée Zadkine opened its doors on Rue d’Assas.