Zadkine's move to the rue d'Assas in 1928

As the floor of his studio in the Rue Rousselet almost collapsed under the weight of his sculptures, Zadkine set off in search of a new one. "I feel as if I have been transplanted and I still don't know whether it's true! Come and see my Assas folly and you will understand that a man's life can be changed by a dovecote, by a tree" wrote Zadkine to his friend André De Ridder after his arrival in the Rue d'Assas.”I could never live on the second or third floor, he confided to his wife Valentine; the sole of my shoes has to scrape the ground".

After having discovered this "garden and pavilion to live in and large studio to work in", he managed with great difficulty to get the money together required for the rent. In one week, he transported all his sculptures there on a hand cart, helped by his coal merchant. The large studio was immediately filled with his wood and stone sculptures. "There was still a small adjoining studio for working in and a sort of glasshouse which became my work studios. They are still the same today. The large studio was very light. My large wooden sculptures looked good there." he reported in 1967 in his memoirs.

See also Zadkine's first studios in Paris