מויז (משה) קיסלינג

Moïse (Mojzesz) Kisling (1891-1953), painter, born in Krakow, Poland (then part of Austria-Hungary). He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow, and then moved to France in 1910 settling in Paris.

Kisling resided first in Montmartre and after a few years he moved to Montparnasse where he became a member of an artists' community made up of immigrants from various countries in eastern Europe as well as from USA and Britain.

Kisling volunteered to serve in the French Foreign Legion during WW1. After having been seriously wounded in the Battle of the Somme (1915), he was awarded French citizenship.

A member of the School of Paris, Kisling lived and worked in Montparnasse and was close friends with his neighbors, Amedeo Modigliani and Jules Pascin, and other distinguished artists. Kisling earned the widest acclaim for his surreal nudes and portraits.

Kisling volunteered for army service again in 1940 during World War II, although he was 49. He was discharged from the French army at the time of the surrender Nazi Germany.
Kisling immigrated to the United States. In the USA he exhibited in New York and Washington, DC. Eventually he settled in California living there until 1946, when he returned to France where he died seven years later at Sanary-sur-Mer, near Toulon, on the French Riviera.