SOUTINE, CHAIM

SOUTINE, CHAIM
SOUTINE, CHAIM (1893–1943), Russian-French painter. Soutine was born at Smilovitchi in Lithuania, the tenth of eleven children of a poor tailor. Chaim was interested in nothing but drawing, and at the age of fourteen he ran away, first   to Minsk, then to Vilna, where he enrolled at the School of Fine Arts. Attending school during the day, Soutine worked at night. In 1913, a physician who appreciated his talent provided him with money to go to Paris. There he met amedeo modigliani , nine years his senior, who tried to help him. At one time, he and Modigliani shared a garret in Montmartre that contained only one cot, on which they took turns sleeping. To make a living, Soutine copied old masters at the Louvre, worked as a porter at a railroad station, or as a ditch digger. Overcome by despair, he once tried to commit suicide. His situation improved after the dying Modigliani recommended him to his art dealer. Thanks to the dealer's efforts, the American art collector, Albert C. Barnes, visited Soutine's studio and bought more than fifty of his paintings (they are now all at the Barnes Foundation at Merion, near Philadelphia, Pa.). After this meeting in 1922, Soutine produced many oils, and his reputation spread to England and the United States. When World War II broke out, he refused opportunities to go to the United States. After the Nazi invasion of France he was forced to hide in a small village in Touraine. The constant threat of being discovered made him ill with ulcers. In August 1943 a friend rushed him to a hospital in Paris where, after an operation, he died at the age of 50. Soutine never drew subject matters from memories of his early life in the ghetto. Instead, he portrayed the people, places, and scenes around him. He was an expressionist who rendered in violent color all the agony that he felt in his subject matter. He used paint in heavy impasto, and his colors, even more than his technique, betrayed his troubled mind. His canvases often remind one of bleeding, tortured flesh. Everything is broken, twisted, distorted. Even in his landscapes, there is a continuous cataclysmic movement. The body of his work consists of about six hundred oil paintings, many of which were acquired by museums all over the world. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Forge, Soutine (Eng., 1965); M. Tuchman, Chaim Soutine (Eng., 1968), catalog of exhibition (Los Angeles); R. Cogniat, Soutine (Fr., 1945); E. Szittya, Soutine et son temps (1955). (Alfred Werner)

Encyclopedia Judaica. 1971.

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  • Soutine, Chaim — (1894–1943)    French painter. Soutine was a compulsive painter, driven to express his inner tensions in thick impasto paint and tormented forms. This urge seized him from earliest childhood, and in the most unlikely surroundings. He was the… …   Who’s Who in Jewish History after the period of the Old Testament

  • Soutine, Chaim — (1894 1943)    painter    Born in ghetto in Smilovitchi, Lithuania, the 10th child of a poor family, Chaim Soutine worked for a photographer and studied art in Minsk and Vilna, Russia (1910) before leaving for France. Arriving in Paris (1913), he …   France. A reference guide from Renaissance to the Present

  • Soutine, Chaim — born 1893/94?, Smilovichi, near Minsk, Russian Empire died Aug. 9, 1943, Paris, Fr. Russian born French painter. After studying art in Vilnius, he went to Paris in 1913 to study at the École des Beaux Arts. An art dealer enabled him to paint for… …   Universalium

  • Soutine,Chaim — Sou·tine (so͞o tēnʹ), Chaim. 1893 1943. Lithuanian born French expressionist painter whose works are often disturbing presentations of distorted figures and gruesome subjects. Among his paintings are Side of Beef (1925) and The Head Valet (1928) …   Universalium

  • Soutine, Chaim — (1893 1943)    French painter. Born in Similovitchi, Lithuania, he studied in the School of Fine Arts in Vilna and later went to Paris. He shared rooms with Amedeo Modigliani. With the Nazi occupation, he fled to a small French village and… …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • Soutine, Chaim — ► (1894 1943) Pintor expresionista francés. Sus retratos y paisajes muestran su carácter angustiado y la inquietud de su espíritu. Autor de Catedral de Chartres. * * * (¿1893/94?, Smilovichi, cerca de Minsk, Imperio ruso–9 ago. 1943, París,… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Soutine, Chaim —    см. Сутин, Хаим …   Энциклопедический словарь экспрессионизма

  • Soutine — Soutine, Chaim …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Chaim Soutine — Chaïm Soutine Chaïm Soutine est un peintre français né en Biélorussie dans le village de Smilovitchi, près de Minsk en 1893[1]. Il est mort à Paris, le 9 août 1943. Il a développé précocement une vision et une technique de peinture très …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Soutine — Chaïm Soutine Chaïm Soutine est un peintre français né en Biélorussie dans le village de Smilovitchi, près de Minsk en 1893[1]. Il est mort à Paris, le 9 août 1943. Il a développé précocement une vision et une technique de peinture très …   Wikipédia en Français

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