Art and designיוסף קונסטנט

Joseph Constant

Joseph Constant was a sculptor, painter and writer, born in Jaffa, who worked in Paris and Ramat Gan and wrote under the name Michel Matveev.

1892 to 1969Animal sculptureNovels written as Michel MatveevCo-founding the HaTomer cooperative

Born: 14 July 1892, Jaffa
Died: 3 October 1969, Paris
Occupation: sculptor, writer, painter, artist
Founded: Ha-Tomer (1920)

Joseph Constant was born in 1892 in Jaffa

Joseph Constant was born Joseph Constantinovsky in Jaffa on 14 July 1892, to Russian Jewish parents. He grew up in Odessa. As a boy he joined his father in the anti-Tsarist activity of 1905.

In 1914 he began studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Odessa. During the 1917 revolution he was named an inspector of fine arts.

In 1919 his father and brother were killed in a pogrom, and he sailed to Palestine on the ship Ruslan. In Tel Aviv he helped found the artists' cooperative HaTomer and taught art at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium. He later left for Egypt and settled in Paris in 1923.

In Paris he began writing in French as Michel Matveev. He published Les Traqués in 1933 and won the Prix des Deux Magots in 1936 for Étrange famille. In the 1930s he turned mainly to sculpture.

From 1962 he divided his time between his studios in Paris and Ramat Gan. He died in Paris on 3 October 1969. His Ramat Gan studio became a museum.