Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Right and left in Soutine's last landscapes

1995; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 11; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/02666286.1995.10435895

1943-2178

Avigdor W. G. Posèq,

Diverse Cultural and Historical Studies

Abstract Chaim Soutine, whose centenary has recently been marked by an extensively illustrated catalogue raisonnè,1 is remembered as a painter of distorted portraits, still-lifes of withered plants and dead and decaying animal flesh; in the catalogue, however, landscape paintings outnumber the other works. The survey also shows that the early views of rustic Parisian suburbs and quaint little towns gradually made way for more emphatic representations, focusing on the expressiveness of individual trees or small woods, often enlivened by tiny human figures. Several paintings belonging to this category were done in the last two years of Sou tine's life when he left German-occupied Paris to live under an assumed name in Champigny-sur-Veude, in Touraine. In a period of food shortages the fertile farming region offered obvious advantages2 and Soutine liked its placid scenery, but social isolation and the constant fear of denunciation operated a powerful stress on him.