The issue of the material

The question of materials and its treatment was at the centre of the deliberations which governed the design of this new presentation and the selection of works which it offers. Before becoming a place of conservation, the museum was first of all a place for creation, in other words a place for working on materials. This historic reality remains very present through the architectural reality of the buildings. The areas in which the works are presented today tell us that they were formerly studios. It was clear that this fundamental reality of the identity of the studio-museum was a central element which had to be taken into account in the work on their presentation - in order to create a proper consistency between the works and the building. In the interior spaces, only wood, stone, clay and plaster have been used. They are the only materials that Zadkine ever worked with in his studios. The bronzes, which have a different history, do not relate to the world of the studio but to that of the foundry, of the multiple, of dealers and collectors and are grouped in the garden around the theme of the monument.