Impact of Chaim Soutine: De Kooning, Pollock, Dubuffet, Francis Bacon, The

If the contorted imagery and wild brushwork of French Expressionist Chaim Soutine became key features of French modern art in the 1920s, they also exerted a lasting and meaningful influence on many major post-war painters. Willem de Kooning considered Soutine his favorite painter, and Jackson Pollock's late work "Scent" was a homage to the Lithuanian-born painter. Jean Dubuffet's concept of art was affected by Soutine's seemingly untaught and direct manner, and Francis Bacon was dramatically affected by his ability to freely capture the essence of the personage portrayed. Through key paintings, especially those created in the decade after 1918, The Impact of Chaim Soutine reveals not only the seminal power and reverberant originality of this 20th-century artist, but also the depth and expressiveness that his influence added to the art of four of the most important American, French, and British artists.… (more)