ZUCKER, JACQUES

ZUCKER, JACQUES (né Jakub Cuker; 1900–1981), U.S. painter, illustrator, writer. Born in Radom, Poland, Zucker studied art in New York, but received most of his education at the Bezalel School of Art, Jerusalem, and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and the Académie Colarossi in Paris. During WWI, Zucker fought for Palestine's liberation by enlisting in that country's Royal Fusillier's Jewish Brigade. By the 1920s Zucker had attained a reputation as an artist of landscapes, portraits, and figures. Some of his imagery possessed Jewish themes, such as Synagogue of the Cabala. The artist immigrated to the U.S. in 1922 to rejoin his family. Zucker traveled extensively: many of his images depict scenes or objects in Spain, Portugal, Egypt, Israel, and Poland. He divided his time between France and the U.S., and exhibited in both countries. In the U.S., Zucker's work was shown at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Whitney Museum. Zucker's style demonstrates myriad influences: the German and Austrian Expressionists, such as Oskar Kokoschka and Ludwig Kirchner; the landscapes of Chaim Soutine; and French painters such as Vuillard and Bonnard. Zucker's work is owned by many major museums, including the Jewish Museum, New York and the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. In 1969, the French art critic Claude Roger-Marx wrote a book titled Jacques Zucker devoted to the work of the eponymous artist. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: B.P. Solomon, "Portrait of a Lost Master: Film Brings Jacques Zucker to America," in: The Forward (Jan. 14, 1994). (Nancy Buchwald (2nd ed.)