Chaïm Soutine, 1893-1943
Les harengs et la bouteille de Chianti – herrings and a bottle of Chianti, circa 1917
Oil on canvas
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Russian-French painter of Jewish origin, Chaïm Soutine made a major contribution to the expressionist movement while living in Paris. Soutine was in a state of deep misery in La Ruche artists’ residency where he met Modigliani, Chagall and Zadkine, among others. They were all rarely eating their fill. In the still life from this period the theme of food is recurrent. The shape is made of a multitude of features from which arise notes of pure tones that announce the colors of years to come.
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he is considered the ancestor of Abstract Expressionism, even if he was strongly engaged in painting real subjects. Handling the brush with a striking thickness and ferocity, both in the forms and contents, Soutine’s paintings are expressing both historical and avant-garde motifs.
Soutine was absorbed by the theme of food. This recurrent line was notably important in the Jewish culture at that time, and was of course linked with the famine and grinding poverty of the early century. Moreover, this personal background influenced his work, where still lives led to a strong symbolism and psyche. Therefore, his brushstrokes are conveying both an intimate style and a more collective trope. The organic structures are revealing a completely violent world, of blood, of flesh, of slaughtering, as a vision of the past into the present and future. Soutine butchers the sustenance like he was digging into his inner self and soul, conceding a discontent and brutal subconscious and mental constitution. Soutine’s personal anxiety is extrapolated into the canvases, but not affecting his struggling impulsive mood for innovation and creativity.
