Considered one of the 20th century’s leading Expressionist artists, Chaim Soutine (1893–1943) was obsessed with drawing and painting even as a boy. When he was not able to render his images as he conceived them, he became infuriated and would often knife his canvas, cutting it into numerous small pieces, and then burn it. His frustration imbued every aspect of his art and his life.
Born in a shtetl to Zalman Sutin, a poor Lithuanian tailor, and his wife, Sarah, Soutine was the tenth of eleven children. Quick to anger, he was misunderstood by his family and neighbors and had few friends. It didn’t help that his religiously observant Jewish family was appalled to learn that he wanted to become an artist. Painting was considered a grave violation of the second commandment. In addition, he had trouble verbalizing his feelings and difficulty expressing himself in Russian and later in French, which he spoke with a heavy Yiddish accent.
Comments