Zwy Milstein, enfant terrible of art – Marie from the 10th arrondissement of Paris – Paris, 75010

The Town Hall of the 10th arrondissement of Paris pays tribute to Zwy Milshtein (1934-2020), Moldovan designer, painter, engraver, sculptor and author who would have celebrated his 90th birthday this year. Gigantic or tiny, fifty works will offer a panorama of the complex universe of an artist marked by the exodus to Eastern Europe in the darkest hours of the 20th century. At the frontier of abstraction, Milshtein has worked for more than 60 years to bring matter to life. From stains and accidents a multitude of intensely expressive figures are born on canvas or paper: loved ones and desired ones, memories of the men and women who populated the odyssey of his childhood which took him to Israel. From the age of 20, his work was recognized by the Tel Aviv Museum before a scholarship allowed him to join the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He quickly participated in exhibitions of the School of Paris at the Galerie Charpentier, while Katia Granoff, who compared Milshtein to Goya, presented his work from 1958. From the Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris to the MoMa in New York, via the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Cabinet des estampes de la BNF or even the Royal Library of Belgium, Milshtein's works are today among French public collections and the most important international ones. In addition to painting, prints contribute greatly to the reputation of Milshtein, who claimed to be an engraver before becoming a painter in the 1970s. The BNF Prints Cabinet dedicated the exhibition “Milshtein Estampes” to him in 1978.