Moissey Kogan

Moissey Kogan
Female Torso in sandstone
Born	(1879-03-12)12 March 1879 Orhei, Bessarabia
Died	3 March 1943(1943-03-03) (aged 63) Auschwitz
Nationality	Romanian
Known for	Sculpture

Moissey Kogan (Orhei, Bessarabia 12 March 1879 – 3 March 1943 Auschwitz-Birkenau), was a Russian-Jewish medalist, sculptor and graphic artist who spent much of his time in Paris and travelled throughout Europe. He specialised in creating sculptures and graphic art based on the female form. The Moissey Kogan Archive of the European Cultural Foundation, in Bonn, collects and captures the entire work of the artist.

Moissey Kogan (also known as Moise or Moshe) was born to a Jewish merchant in the town of Orhei. From an early age, he was interested in craftsmanship and acquired his artistic skills auto-didactically. In 1889, he moved to Nagybánya, an artist's colony in Hungary, where he was taught by the painter Simon Hollósy. From 1903, Kogan spent time in the Bavarian city of Munich, where he enrolled at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, studying under the sculptor, Wilhelm von Rümann.

His artistic career began in 1908, when he exhibited for the first time in Paris, at the Salon d'Automne. The following year, he became one of the founding members of the Expressionist group Neue Künstlervereinigung. During this period in Paris, Kogan was supported by the sculptors Rodin and Maillol. His talents were noticed by the art collector and patron Karl Ernst Osthaus, who worked for Kogan in later years, and offered the young artist a teaching position at the Folkwang Museum in Hagen. This situation was short-lived, and Kogan moved back to Munich, and then Paris, At the invitation of Henry van de Velde, he briefly taught at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Weimar. He led a transient life during this period, and lived variously in Switzerland and Berlin as well. In Berlin, he was promoted by the prominent art-historian Max Sauerlandt and in the 1920s, Kogan's art was exhibited alongside artists from the Berlin Secession.