A Russian-born sculptor, native of Moldova, Moissey Kogan taught himself to do sculpture before being admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich in 1903 where he joined the studio of Wilhelm von Rumman. The artist quickly emancipated from the teaching of his master he considered too academic and moved to Paris where he attended the artists constituting the European avant-garde.

Encouraged by Auguste Rodin in a visit in his studio in 1905, Moissey Kogan made its first shipment in the Autumn Salon in 1908. The following year, he is a founding member of the group of Expressionist artists prefiguring Die Blaue Rieter: Neue Künstlervereinigung München, before being appointed professor of modeling at the Kunstgewerbeschule Weimar (Sch...