Soutine

Expressionist painter Chaïm Soutine (1893–1943) may not be as well known as many of his contemporaries, but as Murielle Levy and Valerie Firla's film demonstrates, he was an intriguing figure whose personal and professional eccentricities made him difficult to deal with but gave his work a distinctiveness that has ensured his posthumous fame. (His series of “carcass paintings” of dead animals, for example, led neighbors to complain to police about the stench his “models” caused, but they have become his most characteristic legacy.) As a documentary, Soutine is hardly as innovative as its subject: the treatment is conventional—a straightforward chronological sketch combining archival materials and comments from art historians and museum curators to flesh out the painter's life and career—but it provides a thorough overview of his output, serving up many examples of his colorful paintings that nicely illustrate his peculiar style. Also included are black-and-white excerpts drawn from a series of 1962 interviews with recollections by artists Pinchus Krémègne and Michel Kikoine (who knew Soutine when he was studying in Vilnius, Lithuania), and Madeleine Castaing, one of Soutine's models (another, Paulette Jourdain, speaks of his demanding manner in a 1985 interview). Recent auctions have shown that collectors hold Soutine's work in high regard, but he remains a peripheral figure to the wider public. This capable study of the man and the artist may help to encourage a broader appreciation of his talent. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)