Raised in an orthodox Jewish family in Russia, Mane-Katz was born in the Ukraine and became an early 20th-century artist, known especially for portraits and paintings with Jewish themes. From childhood, he had been influenced by stories of Jewish mysticism, which was reflected in his paintings.

He had a peripatetic life between Russia, France, Israel, and America. He first studied art in Kiev at the Beaux Arts Academy, and in 1913, went to Paris where he associated with Chaim Soutine and Marc Chagall and continued his art studies there at the Beaux Arts Academy.

During World War I, he tried to join the Foreign Legion but was rejected because he was too short. He went back in Russia again, this time joining the Soviet Revolution but rejected the cause because he was so horrified by Josef Stalin. He worked briefly for the Russian ballets, and in 1921, he returned to Paris where in 1927 he took French citizenship. For the next twelve years, he traveled widely, showing his art work and doing many paintings.

In 1939, as World War II was breaking out, he was drafted by the French and then was taken prisoner by the Germans. He escaped and went to the United States and remained there until 1945, exhibiting his paintings at Katia Granoff Gallery and Wildenstein Gallery.

After the war, he returned to Paris where he had exhibited in the Salons. In Paris to the end of his career, he worked happily, painting hundreds of portraits of rabbis and works of Jewish symbolism. In this way, it is thought he was to satisfy his father, who had wanted him to be a rabbi. During these last years, he also resumed intense travel, going to Brazil, Japan, Israel and Argentina as well as throughout Europe.
The Mane Katz Museum is in Haifa, Israel at a mountain top villa that was once the home of the artist.

Source:
http://www.artcult.com/manek.htm
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http://www.roussard.com/artistes/nouveaux/manekatz.html

Born 1894 into a religious Jewish family, most of his work centers around Jewish life and religion.
Mané-Katz studied art in Kiev and came to Paris in 1913, where he became friends with Soutine and Chagall. During WWI, he returned to Russia, working for the Russian Ballets. He was back in Paris in 1921 and became a French citizen in 1927. His work was part of many exhibitions at the Paris Salons until 1939, when he fled to the U.S. to escape persecution during WWII. Mané-Katz returned to his adopted country, and was back in Paris in 1945.

Born in Kremenchuk, Ukraine in 1894, to a traditional and poverty-stricken Jewish family. His father was the beadle of the synagogue. Mané-Katz studied in a heder and a yeshiva until the age of 16. Then from 1911 to 1913 Katz Studied at the Kiev Art School.

In 1913 he Arrived in Paris, and studied at the the École des Beaux-Arts, in the studio of the academic painter Fernand Cormon. In 1916 Mane Studied at the School of Art in St. Petersburg (then Petrograd); and was attracted to avant-garde art, and participated in an exhibition organized by the "Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Arts", which supported Jewish artists.

In 1917 Katz returned to Kremenchuk at the outbreak of the revolution; and was appointed Professor at the Kharkov Academy. Katz settled in Paris and made his home in Montparnasse in 1921. Then had his first one-man exhibition at Galerie Percier in Paris in 1923. There, he participated in annual exhibitions at the Salon d'Automne, Salon des Indépendants, and Salon des Tuileries. Katz visited Palestine, Egypt, and Syria.

He visited the State of Israel frequently in the years that followed. In 1939 Katz escaped from Paris to America at the outbreak of World War II, and lived in New York. Then in 1945, he returned to Paris, and rented a studio in Montparnasse. In the years that followed, he traveled widely and exhibited in Paris, Brazil, Geneva, London, New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, Sao Paolo, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. Katz came to Israel during the War of Independence in 1948 and had a one-man exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum.

He was awarded decoration "Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur " in 1951 by the French Government, for his artistic activities.

Died September 9th, 1962 after illness, and was buried in Haifa.