.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Provenant d'une collection particulière
Chaïm Soutine (1893-1943)
La Folle
Details
Chaïm Soutine (1893-1943)
La Folle
signé 'Ch. Soutine' (en bas à droite)
huile sur toile
73.2 x 59.5 cm.
Peint vers 1918
signed 'Ch. Soutine' (lower right)
oil on canvas
28 7⁄8 x 23 3⁄8 in.
Painted circa 1918
La Folle
signé 'Ch. Soutine' (en bas à droite)
huile sur toile
73.2 x 59.5 cm.
Peint vers 1918
signed 'Ch. Soutine' (lower right)
oil on canvas
28 7⁄8 x 23 3⁄8 in.
Painted circa 1918
Provenance
Léopold Zborowski, Paris.
Henri Bing, Paris.
Gaetane Hyordey-Bing, Cannes (par descendance en 1965).
Acquis auprès de celui-ci par le propriétaire actuel en 1980.
Henri Bing, Paris.
Gaetane Hyordey-Bing, Cannes (par descendance en 1965).
Acquis auprès de celui-ci par le propriétaire actuel en 1980.
Literature
P. Courthion, Soutine: Peintre du déchirant, Paris, 1972, p. 31 (illustré; illustré à nouveau, p. 186, fig. A).
Further details
In a shallow space against a vigorously brushed, dark blue-green background, a woman sits, slightly hunched over, clutching her hands, intently gazing at the viewer. Her black hair is pulled back, a few strands framing her face, her thick eyebrows deepen her focused stare, frowning, and her lips are pursed. She wears a somber off-the-shoulder navy dress, revealing prominent collarbones and a pale, almost sickly complexion. Depicted close-up, her head reaching to the very top edge of the canvas and her body cropped just under the hips, she confronts the viewer directly with her deeply individual presence.
Painted around 1918, a few years after Soutine’s arrival in Paris and towards the end of the war, La Folle exemplifies the artist’s unique portraiture style—single figures, usually seated, either half- or three-quarter-length, presented close-up against a bare background, centered within the pictorial field. Their poses are self-contained, their hands usually resting on their lap or placed on the hips, and they face forward, commanding the viewer's attention but seemingly indifferent to the presence of the artist.
In the present work, Soutine represents a patient from a mental hospital, a fitting subject within his oeuvre, considering he often depicted society’s scapegoats or symbols of exploitation—mad or old women, page or peasant boys—perhaps hinting back to his youth in a Lithuanian shtetl, where one was not to look at certain proscribed subjects. Maurice Tuchman and Esti Dunow have written, “the power of Soutine’s art rests upon this driving necessity to see the forbidden thing and to paint it” (Chaïm Soutine: Catalogue raisonné, Cologne, 1993, vol. I, p. 16).
In later years, Soutine would go on to depict carcasses of cows, sheep, and various poultry, continuing his exploration of forbidden depictions. Still, prior to reaching his crude representations, the artist used his portraits to explore what would become one of his favorite subjects: flesh. “Flesh as the material of things, the basic substance of life, fascinated Soutine…In the hands and face, Soutine was able to explore all the complexities of paint and matter and to discover the very particularity of the specific person” (ibid., vol. II, p. 510). In La Folle, Soutine has applied light greens, blues, pale yellows and strokes of reds to create a skin tone reflecting the mental state of his subject—sickly, seemingly uncomfortable, yet blatantly facing her interlocuter—leaving the viewer with a sense of awe at the artist’s raw and intimate portrayal of an unknown mad woman.
Cette œuvre sera incluse au troisième volume du catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre de Chaïm Soutine, actuellement en préparation par Esti Dunow et Maurice Tuchman.
Painted around 1918, a few years after Soutine’s arrival in Paris and towards the end of the war, La Folle exemplifies the artist’s unique portraiture style—single figures, usually seated, either half- or three-quarter-length, presented close-up against a bare background, centered within the pictorial field. Their poses are self-contained, their hands usually resting on their lap or placed on the hips, and they face forward, commanding the viewer's attention but seemingly indifferent to the presence of the artist.
In the present work, Soutine represents a patient from a mental hospital, a fitting subject within his oeuvre, considering he often depicted society’s scapegoats or symbols of exploitation—mad or old women, page or peasant boys—perhaps hinting back to his youth in a Lithuanian shtetl, where one was not to look at certain proscribed subjects. Maurice Tuchman and Esti Dunow have written, “the power of Soutine’s art rests upon this driving necessity to see the forbidden thing and to paint it” (Chaïm Soutine: Catalogue raisonné, Cologne, 1993, vol. I, p. 16).
In later years, Soutine would go on to depict carcasses of cows, sheep, and various poultry, continuing his exploration of forbidden depictions. Still, prior to reaching his crude representations, the artist used his portraits to explore what would become one of his favorite subjects: flesh. “Flesh as the material of things, the basic substance of life, fascinated Soutine…In the hands and face, Soutine was able to explore all the complexities of paint and matter and to discover the very particularity of the specific person” (ibid., vol. II, p. 510). In La Folle, Soutine has applied light greens, blues, pale yellows and strokes of reds to create a skin tone reflecting the mental state of his subject—sickly, seemingly uncomfortable, yet blatantly facing her interlocuter—leaving the viewer with a sense of awe at the artist’s raw and intimate portrayal of an unknown mad woman.
Cette œuvre sera incluse au troisième volume du catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre de Chaïm Soutine, actuellement en préparation par Esti Dunow et Maurice Tuchman.
Brought to you by
20/21st Century Evening Sale - Paris
General Enquires