Reflecting his admiration for Cézanne, Meninsky’s still lifes illustrate his concern with the rendering of volume, using light and shade to define the sculptural qualities of the subject. Meninsky’s Ukranian-Jewish parents brought him to settle in Liverpool as a baby. He studied at Liverpool School of Art and won the King’s Medal and a scholarship to study at the Académie Julien, Paris, followed by the Slade, where he formed friendships with ‘Whitechapel Boys’ David Bomberg, Isaac Rosenberg and Mark Gertler. He was an active member of The London Group. During the First World War Meninsky served in the Royal Fusiliers and was employed as an Official War Artist to paint London scenes, focusing on the arrival and departure of trains from the Front for the Ministry of Information.