Born in 1912 in Kiev, Russia, Alexander Liberman became an academic and post-Impressionist painter in Europe before moving to the United States in 1941. From that time, he painted and sculpted in abstract styles, often using the circle, which he asserted was the ideal shape. In his sculpture, he was revolutionary because of his use of industrial materials, factory building methods, and large-scale size.

The first nine years of his life, he lived in Kiev with his family where the father was in the lumber business and his mother was devoted to the theatre. The Libermans left Russia in 1921, and Alexander studied in England and France, first in London and then in Paris with Andre Lhote from 1929 to 1931. He studied philosophy and mathem...