Born in Odessa, Ukraine (1887 - ?)

Adolphe (Aizik) Feder, Portrait of a Young Boy, watercolor, 41x31 cm.Adolphe Feder received a traditional Jewish education as well as a secular education. He went to Berlin and then to Geneva in 1909-1910, where he studied painting. He arrived in Paris in 1910 and studied for two years at the Julian Academy and one year at the Matisse Studio. He exhibited at the Salon d'Automne for the first time in 1912 and thereafter became a member.

Feder painted landscapes, still life compositions, and figures. He was interested in primitive art, collected African sculptures and Ethiopian paintings, and also traveled extensively. In 1926 he visited Palestine, where he was impressed with Jerusalem and with the Jewish and Arab oriental types. This visit to Palestine yielded a large number of drawings and paintings with Jewish themes which he took back with him to Paris.

When the Nazis occupied Paris, Feder sought contact with the Resistance, but was caught by the P?tain militia. He was arrested and interned in the Drancy concentration camp in 1942, where he drew portraits. He was deported to a death camp on December 13, 1943.

A monograph on Adolphe Feder was written by the Jewish-French critic and writer, Gustave Kahn.