Chaïm Soutine

Collection particulière, France

The canvas is not lined. There is no evidence of retouching under UV light. This work is in very good original condition.
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oil on canvas. Painted in 1918.

Fig. 1  Paul Cézanne, Village derrière les arbres, 1898

Peint vers 1918, cette vue des environs de Paris compte parmi les plus anciens paysages de Soutine et témoigne déjà du style nerveux et fiévreux qui fera la renommée de l'artiste.

 

Arrivé à Paris en 1913, Soutine a quitté la Ruche pour s'installer Cité Falguière où il partage son atelier avec Modigliani. Outre ses nombreux portraits et nature morte, il est un autre genre que l'artiste affectionne : celui du paysage. Il représente ainsi la cité Falguière, les rues de Clamart où il rend visite à son ami Kikoïne marié, et des paysages non identifiés, parmi lesquels ce paysage de 1918. La beauté de la campagne avoisinante lui donne l'occasion de développer un naturalisme puissant où les motifs végétaux, celui de l'arbre en particulier, occupent une place essentielle. Si deux bâtisses mystérieuses aux couleurs ocre-rouge surplombent la composition, le sujet n'est pas à proprement parler le bâtiment, mais l'écrin de verdure dans lequel elles s'intègrent et qui occupe littéralement tout le premier plan.

S'il est ici un peintre dont la parenté avec l'art de Soutine est déterminante, Cézanne est sans nul doute cet artiste : "Cette façon qu'a Cézanne de rigoureusement découper et fragmenter l'espace dans lequel sont enfermées les formes, cet écrasement des "solides en figures plates" devint plus qu'une simple astuce picturale pour Soutine. L'artiste transforme cette construction plastique en une métaphore extrêmement personnelle : elle devient un moyen d'exprimer cette fusion inévitable des formes et des sujets, cette personnification des formes, des chairs et des pigments, fondamentale dans ses paysages, ses natures mortes et ses portraits" (Catalogue d'exposition : Chaim Soutine, Galerie Thomas, Munich, 2009, p. 65).

Tandis que les frondaisons des arbres et la verticalité de leur tronc envahissent et dynamisent la toile, les herbes hautes, les haies ainsi que les massifs servent de soubassement à cette composition. Outre cette structure et ce cadrage classiques - l'artiste restant fidèle à la vue qui s'offre à lui sur le motif - la touche de Soutine, riche en matière, s'épaissit, sa palette s'éclaire, la couleur se diversifie et absorbe la surface de la toile, annonçant déjà l'éclatement des tons qui se manifestera, à peine quelques semaines plus tard, dans le midi.

 

Painted around 1918, this view of the outskirts of Paris is one of the earliest landscapes by Soutine and already bears the hallmark of the dynamic, feverish style for which the artist would become justly famous. 

Arriving in Paris in 1913, Soutine left La Ruche to settle in the suburb of Falguière where he shared a studio with Modigliani.  Aside from his many portraits and still lives, he was also very fond of painting landscapes.  Thus he began to depict Falguière, the streets of Clamart where he visited his married friend Kikoïne and other unidentifiable landscapes such as this one from 1918.  The beauty of the neighbouring countryside afforded him the opportunity to develop a powerful naturalism with botanical motifs, particularly trees, taking centre stage.  Though we glimpse some mysterious ochre-red buildings at the back of the composition, they are not the subject of the painting, the focus is on the greenery surrounding them which occupies the whole of the foreground.

If there is one artist whose work had a defining influence on Soutine, it is without a doubt Cézanne: "The way in which Cézanne rigorously cropped and fragmented the space surrounding his forms, this crushing of "solids into flat planes" became more than a mere pictorial technique for Soutine.  The artist transformed this visual construction into an extremely personal metaphor: it became a way of expressing this inevitable fusion of forms and subjects, this personification of forms, flesh and pigments, fundamental in his landscapes, his still lives and portraits" (Exhibition catalogue : Chaim Soutine, Galerie Thomas, Munich, 2009, p. 65).

While the foliage of the trees and the verticality of their trunks dominates and enlivens the canvas, the tall grasses, rushes and clumps serve as the bedrock of the composition.  Aside from this structure and the classic framing – remaining faithful to the view that is before his eyes – Soutine's rich painting style thickens, his palette lightens, the colours diversify and absorb the surface of the canvas, heralding the explosion of tones that would appear in the Mediterranean just a few weeks later.