Cleveland Museum of Art

Old Woman

Chaïm Soutine

Date

c. 1923–24

Medium

oil on canvas

Culture

Russia (worked in France), 20th century

Department

Modern European Painting and Sculpture

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

In the nearly 200 portraits Chaïm Soutine painted, he was remarkably consistent in his approach:he almost always painted solitary, unidentified models, seated in half- or three-quarter-length poses facing frontally with hands placed on the hips or folded in the lap, as seen here. The physical distortions—the woman’s large hands, arched green eyebrows, and pointed chin—executed with agitated, slashing brushstrokes heighten the portrait’s expressive qualities. The sitter here is remarkably similar to the figure in another Soutine portrait of a schoolteacher named Melanie at the Columbus Museum of Art. Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , was inspired by Soutine's work for his short story "Skin."

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