沙伊姆·蘇丁

Léopold Zborowski, Paris

Henri Bing, Paris

Mrs. Gaetane Hyordey-Bing, Cannes (by descent from the above in 1965)

Acquired from the above in 1980

Pierre Courthion, Soutine, Peintre du déchirant, Paris, 1972, illustrated p. 31 & p. 186

Soutine's approach to portraiture was characterized by a profound psychological sensitivity that was unusual for the artists of his generation.  While his contemporaries such as Modigliani painted portraits of attractive nudes or flattering, commissioned depictions of fashionable doyennes, Soutine preferred to focus his attention on society's forgotten figures.   His models were often members of the working class, the poor or the otherwise downtrodden, portrayed with an honesty and gritty realism that was startlingly in contrast with the sleekness and sophistication of the 1920s.  These portraits gave visibility to people normally relegated to the shadows of modern society and presented their bodies and their existential plight as subjects worthy of consideration.  

The present work depicts a young patient from a mental hospital, painted in Paris in 1918.  Europe at this moment was reeling from the catastrophic events of the war, now in its final weeks, and artists were beginning to process the impact of post-war life through their work. Like Giacometti would do in response to World War II, Soutine here focuses his attention on the psyche in turmoil.  While the identity of this particular sitter is unknown, she embodies the weariness, confusion and frustration of a society at its breaking point.

Soutine was not the first to subject the fragility of life to the scrutiny of artistic interpretation.  Inspired by the painters of the 19th century, the artist reprises a line of inquiry that once fascinated the celebrated 19th century Romantic painter, Gericault.   In his consideration of La Folle, art historian William N. Ambler has observed Soutine's indebtedness to Gericault in this regard: 
"Théodore Géricault inspired Chaim Soutine in a variety of ways.  In addition to an appreciation for Romantically expressive brushwork, both were drawn to the macabre, including a fascination with painting dead flesh and portraying the insane.  Shortly before his tragic death in 1824, aged 32, Géricault painted portraits of the patients of his friend, Étienne-Jean Georget who served as chief physician of the Salpêtrière, the women's asylum in Paris.  Géricault's grandfather and uncle had died insane and Géricault's own mental breakdown in 1819 ensured the artist's interest in the subject of mental illness.  Géricault infuses his renderings of Dr. Georget's patients with a delicate balance of compassion and incisive accuracy, while also seizing the opportunity to provide a bravura display of brilliant painterly brushwork" (W.N. Ambler, in correspondence with Sotheby's, October 2015).