Soutine’s Portraits: Cooks, Waiters & Bellboys

Lovely exhibition at the Courtauld of paintings of hotel and restaurant staff by Chaim Soutine from the 1920s and 30s.

Soutine was considered by many to the be the heir of Van Gogh and Cezanne who, following the purchase of a picture of a pastry chef by a collector in 1923, specialised in portraits of staff at fashionable hotels. I loved the way this show was hung in groups of similar occupations. There was a real sense of looking at a group of unknown people who seemed to be looking back at the viewer too.

Part of the commentary said that he enjoyed the challenge of painting white cloth and it was wonderful to see the huge range of colours in the pastry chefs’ clothing yet which your eye saw as white. I loved the way most pictures had a plain blue background giving them the gravitas of a Renaissance portrait.

The brush work was wonderfully loose with the paint used to mirror the texture of the buttons. They had the feel of Velazquez pictures and I could see how they had influenced Bacon.

Closed on 21 January 2018

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