Ben Uri acquires work by Chaim Soutine
Posted by admin | 25th July 2012
Chaïm Soutine (1894 -1943), La Soubrette (Waiting Maid), Oil on canvas, dimension: 46.7 x 41.00 cm
Born in 1894, in Smilovichi, near Minsk, (once part of Russia and now Belarus) Chaïm Soutine was from a poor background, one of 10 children born to a Jewish tailor. Thankfully, the support of a friendly doctor enabled him to attend art college in Vilna. In 1913, Soutine emigrated to Paris where he attended the École des Beaux-Arts and met artists Chagall, Modigliani, and Jacques Lipchitz.
Soutine's style is marked by thick impasto and agitated brushwork, and the unsettling psychological content closely relate to early 20th-century Expressionism. Servants were a favoured subject for Soutine, along with studies of meat: he is known for securing a rotting carcass that he kept in his studo so he could routinely study its putrifying decay.
- Listen to a fascinating talk about Soutine from the BBC World Service, 15 Jan 2013, commemorating the 120th anniversary of his birth on 13 January.
- Read the press release: Ben Uri - Small London Art Museum Acquires Important Portrait by Soutine.
- Read about the artwork and the artist in the document Supporting Statement on Soutine acquisition La Soubrette.
- Visit the exhibition page: From Russia to Paris: Chaim Soutine and his Contemporaries.
Support and funding
La Soubrette (Waiting Maid) has been acquired by private treaty through Sotheby’s, thanks to a £193,000 Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant and almost equal support from the Art Fund and the V&A Purchase Grant Fund.The nation’s thanks to all the institutions and philanthropists below who supported our ambition and vision for the learning and inspirational potential of this painting being in the public domain at Ben Uri.
- the Art Fund
- Heritage Lottery Fund
- the V&A Purchase Grant Fund
- Miriam and Richard Borchard
- Sir Harry and Lady Djanogly
- Patsy and David Franks
- Morven and Michael Heller
- Joan and Lawrence Kaye (USA)
- Laura and Lewis Kruger (USA)
- Agnes and Edward Lee
- Simon Posen (USA)
- The Marc Rich Foundation Switzerland
- Anthony Rosenfelder and family (in honour of Marilyn)
- Jayne Cohen and Howard Spiegler (USA)
- Judit and George Weisz
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