Born in Lodz, Poland (1891-?)

Henri (Chaim) Epstein, Young Woman, oil on canvas, 46x33 cm.Epstein began painting in his home town, Lodz, where he worked in a collective atelier shared by local Jewish painters, and then left for Munich to study at the Academy of Art. He settled in Paris in 1931, lived in La Ruche, and participated in classes at the art academy, La Grande Chaumire. Becoming friendly with Utrillo and meeting many contemporary Parisian masters, Epstein was deeply involved in the contemporary art discourse.

He was also associated with many of the Jewish artists who lived in Paris and with whom he shared a concern for Jewish art and art in general. Epstein's work depicts landscapes, peasants working in the fields, fishermen at work, interiors, portraits, and nudes. Lavishly and vividly painted, this style became typically associated with the "School of Paris." He exhibited his work at the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Tuileries.

Henri Epstein was interned in the Drancy concentration camp in 1944 and was subsequently deported to Auschwitz. A retrospective exhibition of Epstein's work was held in Paris in December 1946, and a monograph on his art was published by the art critic George Waldemar in 'Editions Triangle.'