He was born in London, of poor Polish Jewish parents. He was first apprenticed to a stained-glass maker, but managed in face of great difficulties to become a painter, and was a member of the NEAC (1912-14) and the London Group. Post-Impressionism had a brief influence on his art, and he painted mostly still-life and nudes, such as The Queen of Sheba (1922: Tate); his late works also show the influence of folk art.

He made a single piece of sculpture, Acrobats (1917: Tate). He was a victim of acute depression (in which contemporary anti-Semitism played its part, as it did for Bomberg), and after an unsuccessful exhibition he killed himself.

Source: The Penguin Dictionary of Art and Artists (Penguin Reference Books)