CHAÏM SOUTINE | Paysage avec maisons

Private Collection, France (sale: Sotheby's, Paris, 9th December 2009, lot 65)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Munich, Galerie Thomas, Chaïm Soutine: The Passion of Painting, 2009, n.n., illustrated p. 64

Please note that there is a professional condition report for this work, please contact mariella.salazar@sothebys.com to request a copy.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Painted circa 1918 and characterised by powerful strokes of bold colour, the present work exemplifies Chaïm Soutine's expressive potential as a landscape artist. Depicting the outskirts of Paris, it is one of the earliest landscapes by Soutine bearing the hallmark of the dynamic, feverish style for which the artist would become celebrated.   Soutine arrived in Paris in 1913 and lived in the artists’ residence, La Ruche, where he met and became friends with Chagall, Lipchitz and Zadkine.  Later, he moved to the Cité Falguière, where he shared his studio with Modigliani.  Aside from his many portraits and still lifes, he was interested in the depiction of nature in its rawest state. Thus he began to depict Falguière, the streets of Clamart where he visited his friend Kikoïne, and other surrounding landscapes. The beauty of the neighbouring countryside gave him the opportunity to develop a powerful naturalism where nature at its most glorious take centre stage.  In the present work, nature seems to overtake man. Though we glimpse some mysterious ochre-red buildings at the background of the composition signalling human interaction, these are not the subject of the painting; Soutine rather focuses on the greenery of the foliage which occupies the whole of the foreground and the two trees which cut the composition into two distinct parts.

Cézanne’s art had a profound influence on Soutine, wonderfully demonstrated in the present work: ‘The way in which Cézanne rigorously cropped and fragmented the space surrounding his forms, this crushing of "solids into flat planes" became more than a mere pictorial technique for Soutine.  The artist transformed this visual construction into an extremely personal metaphor: it became a way of expressing this inevitable fusion of forms and subjects, this personification of forms, flesh and pigments, fundamental in his landscapes, his still lives and portraits’ (Chaim Soutine, exhibition catalogue, Galerie Thomas, Munich, 2009, p. 65).

While the foliage of the trees and the verticality of their trunks dominate and enliven the canvas, the tall grasses, rushes and clumps serve as the bedrock of the composition.  Aside from this structure and the classic framing – remaining faithful to the view that is before his eyes – Soutine's rich painting style thickens, his palette lightens, the colours diversify and absorb the surface of the canvas, heralding the explosion of tones that would appear in the Mediterranean pictures just a few weeks later. Soutine's pictures, known for their textural bravura and emotional presence, astounded his contemporaries and are still relevant to art and artists today.



This work will be included in the forthcoming third volume of the Chaim Soutine Catalogue raisonné being prepared by Maurice Tuchman and Esti Dunow.