Chaïm Soutine

Lore & Background

During World War I, art dealer Léopold Zborowski supported Soutine, taking him to Nice. In 1923, American collector Albert C. Barnes bought 60 of Soutine's paintings on the spot. Soutine lived in Céret from 1919, painting around 200 canvases between 1920 and 1922. He produced his famous carcass paintings, inspired by Rembrandt's Slaughtered Ox, after keeping an animal carcass in his studio. From 1930 to 1935, patrons Madeleine Castaing and her husband hosted him at their summer home. He participated in the 1937 exhibition The Origins and Development of International Independent Art at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume.

Reader's Guide

Chaïm Soutine's significance lies in his role as a transitional figure between traditional European painting and the emerging Abstract Expressionist movement. His style, prioritizing shape, color, and texture over representation, was influenced by Rembrandt, Chardin, and Courbet. Soutine's carcass paintings, such as The Flayed Ox, became his most well-known works, demonstrating his intense emotional engagement with subject matter. Critic Élie Faure called him 'one of the rare religious painters the world has known.' Soutine's work was championed by dealers Paul Guillaume and Léopold Zborowski, and his 1923 sale to Albert C. Barnes brought him sudden financial relief. Despite his reclusive nature, his participation in the 1937 Jeu de Paume exhibition marked his recognition as a great painter. His legacy endures as a key figure of the School of Paris and a precursor to later abstract expressionists.

Did You Know?

• Soutine once horrified neighbors by keeping an animal carcass in his studio to paint it; the stench led to police being called.
• After Albert C. Barnes bought 60 of his paintings in 1923, Soutine hailed a taxi and ordered the driver to take him to Nice, over 400 miles away.
• Soutine was the 10th of 11 children in a Jewish family in present-day Belarus.
• He was nicknamed 'el pintre brut' ('the dirty painter') by locals in Céret due to his miserable living conditions.