Roaring Lion

The sculptor and painter Avraham Melnikov was born in Bessarabia. While studying medicine, he decided to become an artist. When his parents refused to support him, he moved to Chicago, where a brother lived. He fought with the Jewish Legion in Palestine during World War I and remained there after being demobilized. His monumental statue at Tel Hai, with its notable evocation of Mesopotamian art, is his most famous work. After its completion, he left for England, where he remained for the next twenty-five years, returning to Israel only a few months before he died. In England, he made a reputation for himself as a portrait painter.