Early Life and Artistic Beginnings Antoine Pevsner, born Natan Borisovich Pevzner in 1886 in Oryol, Russian Empire—present-day Belarus—emerged from a Jewish family steeped in intellectual curiosity. His early artistic inclinations weren’t immediately focused on sculpture; he initially pursued architecture and painting, studying at the Imperial Central School of Technical Drawing in St. Petersburg before venturing to Paris in 1908. Thi…