Born in Kreslavka, Latvia (1872 - 1943)

Naum Arenson Salome, bronze, 26x21x30 cm.Showing skill for woodcarving as a boy, Naum Arenson enrolled in an art school in Vilna. In 1892, however, he set out for Paris, where he studied at the Academy of Decorative Arts for a short while. His preference for France and its artistic milieu did not cut him off from his native country and Russian Jewry. Many of his sculptures depict Jewish themes, such as the monument "Kiddush Hashem," which was prompted by the Kishinev Pogrom in 1903, and other works such as "Bar Mitzvah" and "The Prophet."

Arenson also sculpted the images of great personalities such as Tolstoy, Turgeniev, Beethoven, Dante, and Pasteur. He also received an honorary title from the French government for a sculpture that he exhibited in the 1937 Paris World's Fair. 
In 1940, following the Nazi invasion, Naum Arenson fled from France. The Germans took possession of his work and auctioned it off: very little of it survives today. He died in New York in 1943.