Biography:

Jules Pascin, born Julius Mordechai Pincas, is a Bulgarian Jewish painter sometimes referred to as "the Prince of Montparnasse." 

While briefly working for his father's grain merchant firm in Bucharest at fifteen, Pascin spent much of his time completing his earliest drawings in the local bordello, where he was residing under the Madame's protection.

Pascin's contributions were widely recognized for their wit and insight, and upon his arrival in Paris in 1905 he was welcomed at the Gare Montparnasse by an international group of artists and writers who gathered at the Café du Dôme, which Pascin soon began to frequent regularly. The group included Grossman, Grosz, William Howard, Levy, and Emil Orlik. Pascin was also a close friend of Amadeo Modigliani.

Upon his arrival in Paris, Julius Mordechai Pincas changed his name to Jules Pascin and soon became the symbol of the Montparnasse artist community. Always in his bowler hat, he was a witty presence at Le Dôme café, Le Jockey club, and the others haunts of the area's bohemian society, as well being known for hosting legendary all-night parties. 

In 1907, Pascin had his first solo exhibition at Paul Cassirer Gallery in Berlin. Three years later, Cassirir commissioned Pascin to illustrate Heinrich Heine's Aus den Memoiren des Herrn von Schnabelewopski. In 1911, Pascin exhibited his work at Berlin Secession and a year later at the Sonderbund-Aussstellung in Cologne. The artist's first exhibition in the United States was at the Armory Show in New York, where he exhibited twelve of his works.

Upon the outbreak of World War I, Pascin left Paris for London in order to avoid conscription in the Bulgarian Army. In October 1914, he immigrated to New York, where he stayed through 1920 and would later return again in 1927. Pascin was immediately welcomed into an artists circle based around the Penguin Club and became acquainted with John Quinn, an important art collector. A short time after his arrival in New York, Pascin was given a one-man show by the Berlin Photographic Company, a Madison Avenue gallery. While in New York, Pascin became associated with several progressive painters, including Walt Kuhn, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, and Max Weber. Many of these painters were influenced by Pascin's unique style, in which he combined elements from Expressionism and Cubism with his own personal view of his environment.

While his exhibitions were generally very well received, a series of unfavorable reviews in 1930 of his exhibition at the Knoedler Galleries in New York, threw Pascin into a severe depression. After visiting his own prestigious solo exhibition at the Galerie Georges Petit on June 2nd, 1930, Pascin committed suicide. 

On the day of Pascin's funeral, all the galleries in Paris closed. Thousands of acquaintances from the artistic community along with dozens of waiters and bartenders from the restaurants and saloons he had frequented all dressed in black and walked behind his coffin the three miles to the Cimetière de Saint-Ouen.