Chaim’s life
ANGLO-ISRAELI SCULPTOR Chaim Stephenson’s life and work is celebrated in an exhibition at St Martin-in-the-Fields this month, pieces inspired by the stories in the Old Testament, and those that came out of his lifelong concern for people driven from their homes. Stephenson, who died last year aged 89, was born in Liverpool to Russian Jewish immigrant parents. His father was a clarinettist whose original surname was Stupinsky, but which he changed when his conductor had trouble pronouncing it. After attending a local Jewish school, Chaim, whose English name was Harry, was a Bevin Boy at the end of the second world war, and down the mines he was known as “Jew ‘Arry” to distinguish him from all the other Harrys.
He first began to develop his work while working for two decades as a
One of Chaim Stephenson’s artworks