Leah Berliawsky—later known as Louise Nevelson—was born in 1899, in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire, now known as Ukraine. Her family soon migrated to the United States, where at home they spoke Yiddish; young Leah learned English in school. She became a stenographer, married the well-to-do businessman Charles Nevelson, and began taking art classes. A student of Hans Hofmann and Chaim Gross, she experimented with conceptual media, creating sculptures out of found materials and wood. In 1941, Nevelson divorced Charles and had her first solo exhibition. When she died, in 1988, she was one of America’s most important sculptors. Nevelson’s last exhibition in France took place in 1974, at the Centre Pompidou Metz. Now the museum is mounting another, and it will cover her entire career. —Elena Clavarino