Chaïm Soutine

Chaim Soutine was a French artist of Belarusian-Jewish origin who became one of the leading figures of the School of Paris in the early 20th century. Though categorized as an Expressionist, Soutine's subjects and paintings diverge from the typical urban angst of German Expressionism. Instead, his unique approach to conveying his inner psyche through paint manipulation set a precedent later embraced by the Abstract Expressionists.

Biography of Chaïm Soutine

Chaim Soutine hailed from the small Jewish settlement of Smilavichy near Minsk, Belarus, where he grew up as the tenth of 11 children in a family of modest means. Raised under harsh conditions typical of Jews in that era, he faced persecution and discrimination from a hostile government. Despite opposition from his Orthodox family and community, Soutine pursued drawing, leading to punishment, including beatings, for defying Talmudic proscriptions against images. His early suffering in the Jewish ghetto is thought to have influenced his later paintings.

At 16, Soutine journeyed to Minsk and studied at the Vilna Academy of Fine Arts from 1910 to 1913, one of the few institutions open to Jews. There, he encountered artists from the avant-garde and studied the works of masters such as Ukrainian painter of Armenian origin Ivan Aivazovsky and Russian landscape artist Fyodor Alekseev. While excelling in drawing and painting, Soutine's instructors noted his inclination towards tragedy and dark subject matter.

After completing his studies at Vilna, at 19, Soutine ventured to Paris alongside classmates Pinchus Kremegne and Marcel Kikoine, enrolling at the École des Beaux-Arts. There, he spent two years in Fernand Cormon's studio, a respected historical painter. Soutine frequented the Louvre, meticulously studying works by Goya, El Greco, Tintoretto, Ingres, and Courbet. Yet, it was Rembrandt's art that profoundly influenced him, particularly his portraits, still lifes, and use of light. Later, Soutine made pilgrimages to Amsterdam, sleeping on a park bench near the Rijksmuseum to spend more time with the museum's Rembrandt collection.

In 1915, while residing in La Ruche, an artist's colony in Paris's outskirts, Soutine met Amedeo Modigliani through fellow artist Jacques Lipchitz. Modigliani, an Italian-Jewish emigre, significantly impacted Soutine's career. Modigliani admired Soutine's early portraits and still lifes, introducing him to art dealer Leopold Zborowski, who promptly offered representation. Their friendship was commemorated in a series of portraits exchanged in 1917.

After spending three years in the provinces during World War I, financially supported by Zborowski, Soutine returned to Paris. He embarked on a prolific period of creating portraits of local townspeople and service laborers such as cooks, maids, and boot polishers, many of whom he encountered randomly. 

The 1920s marked the peak of Soutine's productivity and the most prosperous period of his career. In 1923, during an exhibition of Soutine's works at Paul Guillaume's gallery, American collector Albert C. Barnes became enamored with one of Soutine's portraits of a pastry cook. Guillaume privately showed Barnes more of Soutine's work, leading to Barnes promptly purchasing the majority of it. Barnes' patronage significantly raised the value of Soutine's art and ensured financial stability for the rest of his career.

While Soutine's first dealer and patron, Zborowski, passed away in 1932, he received generous support from French collectors Madeleine and Marcellin Castaing, who invited him to stay at their summer home in Leves from 1930 to 1935. Throughout the 1930s, Soutine participated in several successful exhibitions, including a solo show in Chicago and a group exhibition titled The Origins and Development of International Independent Art in Paris.

In the period leading up to World War II, Soutine resided with his partner and caregiver Gerda, a Jewish-German woman who had sought refuge in Paris in 1935. In 1940, as the Nazis approached France, Gerda was forcibly relocated to a camp for German nationals. The loss of their stable relationship left Soutine devastated. Yet, later that year, he found solace in a romantic relationship with Marie-Berthe Aurenche, the former wife of Max Ernst, who became his muse and mistress until his passing.

Following the Nazi invasion of Paris in the summer of 1940, Soutine was compelled to flee his Paris apartment to evade capture by the Gestapo. The ensuing years were his darkest, as he moved from one village to another in the Loire Valley, living under constant threat of forged passports. The stress exacerbated his ulcers, leading to a medical emergency. Rushed to a hospital in Chinon due to anemia and pain, Soutine underwent emergency surgery in Paris after over 24 hours of travel. Sadly, he succumbed to a perforated ulcer on August 9, 1943, at the age of 50.

The Art Style of Chaïm Soutine

Chaim Soutine's pioneering approach lay in his depiction of subjects using a heavy impasto technique, where thick layers of paint on the canvas, along with visible brushwork and forms, conveyed the artist's inner turmoil.

Soutine opted out of embracing the dominant avant-garde movements of the early 20th century, such as Cubism, Dada, and Futurism, instead favoring a more traditional path. He focused on refining his skills as a portraitist and painter of still lifes, with food being a recurring motif likely influenced by its significance in Jewish tradition. Early works like Still Life with Tureen (1914-15) and Still Life with Herrings (1916) showcased this interest, while later pieces like Flayed Rabbit (1924) and his beef carcass series delved into darker themes, hinting at an obsessive preoccupation with death.

While in Ceret in the French Pyrenees and Cagnes in the early 1920s, Soutine focused on producing dramatically expressionist landscapes and natural scenes of the French peasantry. He infused the typically Impressionist and Post-Impressionist subject matter with his darkly pseudo-abstract approach, reflecting his ongoing angst and sorrow regardless of his surroundings.

Soutine, a prototypical wild artist, channeled his documented temper and depression into the paint he layered on the canvas. His body of work goes beyond the dominant avant-garde movements of his time, showcasing a distinctly personal and artistic vision that incorporates historical themes while also anticipating future modernist styles.