La Vénitienne

Painted circa 1927, La Vénitienne depicts an unidentified sitter in Soutine’s signature broad impasto style, set against a dark yet vibrant background. Soutine painted the present work during a period when he primarily focused on portraits of uniformed employees. Masterpieces from this era include L'enfant de choeur (1927; Tushman et al. III, no. 93) at the Kunstmuseum Basel and Portrait du garçon (1927-1928; Tushman et al. III, no. 101) in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. He painted very few enigmatic figures similar to the present work, making La Vénitienne a rare example from this time. Despite not naming his subject, Soutine imbues La Vénitienne with a striking sense of individuality and presence. Her dark eyes contrast with her pale skin, which is accentuated by pink cheeks and thin red lips. Soutine also pays extra attention to her hands, around which he adds a grey halo, giving them an almost ethereal sensibility. The brightness of her hands contrasts with her dark dress, which Soutine accents with flecks of red, white, and blue, lending the fabric a rich texture. The combination of her dress, hat, and green necklace suggests that the sitter is going to the theater—a detail that reflects the themes of character and self-presentation that permeate Soutine’s portraits. The organization of the composition is also quite intimate. The woman is depicted close up, her head reaching the top edge of the canvas, as if confronting the viewer directly. Together, these elements convey a vivid impression of the sitter—at once poised, mysterious, and introspective.
La Vénitienne was first acquired by Paul Guillaume, the visionary French art dealer who is often cited as launching Soutine’s career after showing the artist’s work to the prominent American collector Albert Barnes in 1922. As Guillaume recounted: “The spontaneous pleasure [Barnes] derived from [Soutine’s] canvas changed Soutine's fortune all at once, transforming him overnight into a recognized painter, sought after by patrons, no longer the object of condescension—a hero in Montparnasse” (P. Guillaume quoted in Great French Paintings from the Barnes Foundation, New York, 1993, p. 216). Barnes purchased upwards of fifty paintings from Soutine over the following weeks, giving Soutine much-needed financial support and visibility among collectors and institutions in the United States. La Vénitienne later entered the collection of the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, where it remained for roughly twenty years before joining its first private collection—that of Justin K. Thannhauser. Thannhauser was a distinguished art historian and collector of French painting from the Impressionist and Post-Modern eras. Most notably, he gifted a group of his most important objects to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum beginning in 1965. The bequest included major paintings like Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Femme au Perroquet, 1871, Paul Cezanne’s Nature morte, Flasque, verre et carafe, 1877, Vincent van Gogh’s Montagnes à Saint-Rémy, 1889, and the present work, Soutine’s La Vénitienne. The work remained in the museum’s collection until it was deaccessioned and later purchased by Arnold and Joan Saltzman in 1983. La Vénitienne has remained in the couple’s collection since then, capturing the modernist spirit that drove their expansive collecting vision.