Russian painter

Chaïm Soutine

was born,

January 13, 1893

in Smilavichy in the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire

(present-day Belarus)

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Soutine made a major contribution to the expressionist movement while living and working in Paris. His work was characterized by the use of thick impasto, agitated brushwork, convulsive compositional rhythms, and the presence of disturbing psychological content.

Inspired by classic painting in the European tradition, exemplified by the works of Rembrandt, Chardin and Courbet, Soutine developed an individual style more concerned with shape, color, and texture over representation, which served as a bridge between more traditional approaches and the developing form of Abstract Expressionism.

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So here’s a glimpse of his work & few words

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“Ah, the giant that is Rembrandt; he’s God, he’s God!”

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“It is the first time in my life that I have not been able to do anything. I am in a bad state of mind and I am demoralized, and that influences me. I have only [made] seven canvases. I am sorry. I wanted to leave Cagnes, this landscape that I cannot endure. I even went for a few days to Cap Martin, where I thought of settling down. It displeased me. I had to rub out the canvases I started… I am in Cagnes again, against my will, where, instead of landscapes, I shall be forced to do some miserable still lifes. You will understand in what a state of indecision I am. Can’t you suggest some place for me? Because, several times I have had the intention of returning to Paris.”

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“You don’t like my painting, you only want to help me. If you had given me one franc for my picture I would have taken it [when M. Castaing discovered his art for the very first time and offered him in advance 100 franc to make a new painting]”

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“I never touched Cubism myself, you know, although I was attracted by it one time. When I was painting at Céret and at Cagnes [1919, and from 1923]. I yielded to its influence in spite of myself, and the results were not entirely banal. But then… Céret itself is anything but banal. There is so much foreshortening in the landscape that, for that very reason, a picture may seem to have been painted in some specific style”

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“I want to show Paris in the carcass of an ox.”

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“Once I saw the village butcher [in his youth, in Russia] slice the neck of a bird and drain the blood out of it. I wanted to cry out, but his joyful expression caught the sound in my throat… This cry, I always feel it there. When, as I drew a crude portrait of my professor, I tried to rid myself of this cry, but in vain. When I painted the beef carcass it was still this cry that I wanted to liberate. I have still not succeeded.”

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“You have no right to interfere with my art. Your wife is not your property. I need her, in order to finish my picture, I must have her! I will sue you! [the woman returned by persuasion of the Castaings who supported Soutine].”

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Soviet Russian cellist

Daniil Borisovich Shafran [1923-1997]

was also born on this day,

January 13, 1923

so we listen to him play his beloved Antonio Amati cello in

Dmitri Shostakovich

Cello Sonata in D minor, Op 40

Dmitri Shostakovich, piano

Recorded live, November 1946

00:00 Allegro non troppo
12:19 Allegro
15:49 Largo
24:47 Allegro

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For more information on Soutine:

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/chaim-soutine-1971

https://www.moma.org/artists/5543

https://www.musee-orangerie.fr/en/artist/chaim-soutine

https://thejewishmuseum.org/index.php/exhibitions/chaim-soutine-flesh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cha%C3%AFm_Soutine

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Enjoy!

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Be Safe