Abraham Krol
Table Still Life with Fish
1940-1950s
Oil on Canvas
45.75x34.75" period wood frame 49.75"x39.25"x2.5"
Signed in paint lower right

Excellent Condition - Minor wear consistent with age and history

Abram (Abraham) Krol was born in Pabianice, Poland, in 1919. An Hasidic Jew, whose masterwork is an edition of the Torah with 187 engravings, he emigrated to France in 1938, where he spent the rest of his life. Krol's first intention was to become a civil engineer, to which end he enrolled at the University of Caen. When war was declared in 1939 he joined the Foreign Legion. Krol was demobilised in Avignon, where he worked as a mechanic in a garage, while devoting his sundays to a course in sculpture at the Beaux-Arts, Avignon.

From 1943, he also began to paint. Armed with false identity papers, Krol went to Nazi-occupied Paris. There, after the war, he learned the art of engraving from Joseph Hecht. His first exhibition was in 1946 at the galerie Katia Granoff; his most recent was in 2008 at the Dijon public library. In 1960 he was invited to exhibit at the Venice Biennale. Alongside his copious output of individual engravings, from 1949 Krol began creating livres d'artiste; in 1952 he won both the prix du livre illustré and the prix Daragnès. In Britain, Krol's achievement was honoured in the 1994 exhibition at the V&A, Three Masters of Engraving: Roger Vieillard, Albert Flocon, Abram Krol.