Chaim Soutine was born in 1893 in Smilovichi, a small Jewish settlement not far from Minsk, then the territory of the Russian Empire, now Byelorussia. He was the 10th child in an extremely poor family of a mender with 11 children. Chaim's early interest in drawing was strongly opposed by his own family. His elder brothers beat him - and more than once - as a true Jew was forbidden to draw. When Chaim was 15, a sad accident with a neighbor took place - Chaim offered to draw the old man’s portrait, and the sons of the man beat him cruelly.
c.1915. Oil on canvas. 73 x 46 cm. Private collection.
c.1916. Oil on canvas. 81 x 44.8 cm. Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antomio, TX, USA.
c.1916. Oil on canvas. 61 x 73.7 cm. Private collection.
c.1916. Oil on canvas. 54 x 64.8 cm. Galerie Yoshii, Tokyo, Japan.
c.1917. Oil on canvas. 72.5 x 53.5 cm. Private collection.
c.1917. Oil on canvas. 60 x 73 cm. Private collection.
c.1917. Oil on canvas. 81 x 65.1 cm. Private collection.
c.1917. Oil on canvas. 54.3 x 65.1 cm. Private collection.
c.1918. Oil on canvas. 54.6 x 45.7 cm. The Art Museum, Princeton Univercity, NJ, USA.
c.1918. Oil on canvas. 55.9 x 68.1 cm. Private collection.
c.1918. Oil on canvas. 52.4 x 63.5 cm. The Colin Collection, New York, NY, USA.
c.1918. Oil on canvas. 46 x 61 cm. Private collection. c. 1917. Oil on canvas. 60 x 73 cm. Private collection.
c.1918. Oil on canvas. 50.5 x 61.3 cm. Private collection.
c.1918. Oil on canvas, 54 x 65.1 cm. Private collection.
c.1918. Oil on canvas. 65.4 x 81.3. Private collection.
c.1919. Oil on canvas. 65.1 x 54 cm. Private collection.
c.1919. Oil on canvas. 53.3 x 65.4 cm. Private collection.
c.1919. Oil on canvas. 87 x 65.1 cm. Private collection.
c.1919. Oil on canvas. 41.9 x 50 cm. Private collection.
c.1919. Oil on canvas. 73 x 59.7 cm. Alex Hillman Family Foundation, New York, NY, USA.
Soutine by Ingo F. Walther. Taschen, 202.
Chaim Soutine: An Expressionist in Paris by Norman L. Kleeblatt, Kenneth E. Silver. Prestel Pub, 1998.
Rifts in the Visible/Felures Dans Le Visible: Chaim Soutine, Painter/Peintre (1893-1943) by Inge Israel. Ronsdale Press, 1997.