Chaïm Soutine Autographed Letter About His Painting. 1931

  
The Autographes des Siècles bookstore has been specializing in the sale of autograph letters and manuscripts for many years. Handwritten letter signed to Émile Lejeune. November 30, 1931 (date added by another hand). "I will not delay in finding the taste for my work again, because I am tired of doing nothing.

Soutine, sick and idle, wishes to join his friend Lejeune in the South in order to find his pictorial inspiration again. "Dear Lejeune, I have long intended to come and work in the south.

I have been very ill since the last time I saw you in Paris. I was subjected to a very strict diet thanks to which I am feeling better now. I would like to leave Paris as soon as I receive your response if you could find me a large room where I can work.

I also ask you to write me if one can have milk in Cagnes for my diet. I think that by staying in Cagnes I will not delay in finding the taste for my work again, because I am tired of doing nothing. Will you stay all winter in Cagnes? My greetings to Madame Lejeune.

Yours, Soutine, 3 rue Narcisse Diaz. In 1931, Soutine already benefits, since the mid-1920s, from the recognition of the art world and collectors despite his complicated relationships with his patrons as well as with the idea of success or fortune. The painter's health problems had serious consequences on his pictorial production.

At the time when he resided at La Ruche, plagued by vermin and penniless, Soutine had in all likelihood been carrying a tapeworm. This led to a stomach ulcer, worsening over the years. With fragile health, Soutine had devised diets based on milk and potatoes but nonetheless had to stop painting several times for weeks or even entire months. Hoping to regain the taste for work in the South, the artist asks his friend the painter Émile Lejeune to find him a room to use as a studio. However, it is surprising that he desires to return to Cagnes, as he wrote in 1923 to the art dealer Zborowski wanting to "leave Cagnes this landscape [that he] can no longer stand [sic]." Lejeune is immortalized in one of Soutine's most famous portraits: Portrait of a Man (Emile Lejeune), painted in 1923 and now preserved in the Musée de l'Orangerie under inventory number FR196394. Consult our manuscripts The Autographes des Siècles Gallery specializes in the sale and expertise of autograph letters and manuscripts from the great personalities of past centuries. Purchase / Payment methods We accept the following payment methods: Bank transfers and checks.

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