ANOTHER LOOK AT SOUTINE...

Yesterday’s Modigliani had been a real eye opener. So what would the exhibition with Soutine’s work bring today. Many of us relate to Soutine through his paintings of carcass.

He once horrified his neighbours by keeping an animal carcass in his studio so that he could paint it (Carcass of Beef). The stench drove them to send for the police, whom Soutine promptly lectured on the relative importance of art over hygiene. There's a story too  that Marc Chagall saw the blood from the carcass leak out onto the corridor outside Soutine's room, and rushed out screaming, "Someone has killed Soutine". Soutine painted 10 works in this series, which have since become his most well-known. His carcass paintings were inspired by Rembrandt's still life. Another story I learnt was he was a good friend of Modigliani - so it seemed right to visit this exhibition today. 

Chaïm Soutine was Russian-French painter of Jewish origin(1893-1943) . He was also was one of the leading painters in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s, seen by many as the heir to Vincent van Gogh. During the early 1920s, he became fascinated by the cooks and waiting staff of French hotels and restaurants, dressed in boldly coloured uniforms. Over the next decade, these humble models sat for him in Paris and the south of France. This was the exhibition we were off to see. 

Soutine’s Portraits: Cooks, Waiters & Bellboys is the first exhibition in the UK on Soutine in over 35 years and the very first to explore this remarkable group of portraits. This series of works show  powerful images of a new social class of service personnel, who moved from aristocratic households of past centuries to the luxury hotels and restaurants that arose in the late 19th and early 20th century. They are overlooked figures from France’s most fashionable places of leisure, including the famous Maxim’s restaurant in Paris. This  appealed to Soutine’s idea that profound emotion and a deep sense of humanity could be found in such modest sitters.

As we were not permitted to take photos - this meant buying the small catalogue at the end of our visit. It is called Soutine’s portraits but in actual fact included a lot about his work in general and where his ideas came from.

Room Service Waiter - 1928

The Pastry Cook - 1919

The Little Pastry Cook - 1922-23

Pastry Cook of Cagnes - 1922-23

Cook with Blue apron -1930

The Chamber maid - 1930

Man with a Pipe 1892-96

The Valet -1927-28

The Bell Boy

Pastry Cook

Cook of Cagnes - 1924

Valet - 1927-28

Butcher Boy - 1919-20

The Young Pastry Cook -1927-28

Page Boy at Maxim's - 1927

Room Service Waiter- 1927

Valet -1927

Valet - 1927

Waiting Maid :I liked her best.

The Little Pastry Cook - 1927

You may have felt it too. Each person seems to be really looking at you. Except perhaps for The Waiting Maid whose head is slightly on the side. We walked through the Courtaud Gallery looking at these paintings once again. Pierrette was right to say that there were not too many happy faces and these "sitters" undoubtedly worked much harder than they do today and longer hours.

This  painting by Modigliani when displayed next to the Valet shows how much the two painters influences one another, don't you think? 
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The Little Peasant - 1918

The Valet -1927-28