Gabriel Zendel, born on January 6, 1906 in Jezov (Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Czech Republic) into a family of Polish origin, showed a vocation for drawing and painting at an early age, encouraged by his parents. His family moved to Paris where he developed a taste for craftsmanship in his father's bookbinding workshop.
From 1925 to 1929, he studied at the Institute of Contemporary Aesthetics under Paul Bornet, training in copper and wood engraving, lithography, and proof printing, before interrupting his studies for military service in Morocco. He also practiced watercolor, gouache, and ceramics.
In 1939, he married Agathe Schneider, a milliner, with whom he had no children. During the Second World War, arrested by the Germans, he escaped and took refuge in Cannes before returning to Paris in 1944. From 1945, he spent his summers with his wife's family in Ris-Orangis.
In 1948-1949, he traveled to New York and came into contact with the Durand-Ruel Gallery. In 1951, he moved into a large studio in Montmartre-aux-Artistes, where he lived until the end of his life. His painting, definitively figurative, attracted many collectors.
From 1951 onwards, he spent long periods in Burgundy and in 1960 acquired a house in Clamerey, where he devoted himself fully to painting. He led a pleasant, homely life, surrounded by his loved ones, until his sudden death on 29 September 1992 in Paris.
