To Whom It May Concern
Not so long ago while visiting the museum, I paid attention to the paintings by Chaïm Soutine, the world-known artist born in Belarus. I was extremely disappointed that the museum shields attribute him as “the Russian” or “the Russian / French artist”. It is not true.
I am Belarusian and I know that there is nothing in the artist's life and work that would connect his family and personality with Russia and Russian culture.
Let me give you some arguments from an art expert.
Chaïm Soutine came to Paris in 1913. At that time he was already an artist . Artist, born in the town of Smilavichy, near Minsk (Belarus). In the year of Soutine’s birth (1893) about 3,500 people lived here, there were two local people’s schools, two church-parochial schools, a mosque, five Jewish prayer houses, an orthodox church, the catholic St. Vincent's Church and a missionary monastery. This town was full of life. The artist often mentioned his small homeland and his childhood.
The Jewish Soutine family belonged to the poorest part of the Smilavichy kahal. Chaïm left his home early and went to study in Minsk, the capital of Belarus up to this day. Here he worked for some time as a retoucher in a photo studio. In Minsk, he took private lessons at Yankel (Jacob) Kruger's drawing school. Thus, in 1907 Chaïm Soutine’s artistic education began. In Belarus, he received his education and began practice as an artist. The nature of that training can be judged from the memoirs of Soutine, who wrote: "When it was necessary to draw with charcoal some Apollo, Venus or Minerva, I enjoyed it! I drew gods for them! But they all looked like old people from the town of Smilavichy!".
After years of art studies in Minsk, Chaïm Soutine continued his studies in Vilnius. And in 1913, the artist left his homeland forever. I would like to note that before he arrived in France, Soutine lived and studied in Belarus only.
Until his death, the artist lived in Paris (except for 1919-1922, he spent this time in the Eastern Pyrenees), he was a close friend of Marc Chagall and Amedeo Modigliani. Soutine’s works were mainly created between 1920 and 1929 and are characterized by a deeply personal vision of the world; they are painted in the artist’s unique manner and technique. Soutine often reworked or destroyed his early paintings and created almost nothing after 1930.
Chaïm Soutine died and was buried in Paris during the Second World War, in 1943. Most of his works were created in France, he received recognition from the public there. Therefore, it is fair to call Soutine a French and Belarusian artist.
In Belarus, Soutine is highly respected as well. It is the country where generations of his ancestors lived, he loved this land and often mentioned it, he received his first art education
here and left Belarus in adulthood. Until recently, Chaïm Soutine’s relatives lived in Belarus as well.
A museum exhibition Chaïm Soutine’s Space was created in 2008 in the artist’s native town of Smilavichy. This project came to life under the auspices of UNESCO. The artist's three paintings: the portrait Eva (1928), the landscape Big Meadows in Chartres near the Viaduct (about 1934), and A Sleeping Reader, Madeleine Castaing (1937) are part of the Belgazprombank’s corporate collection. These works are included in the State List of Historical and Cultural Values of the Republic of Belarus.
I hope that the works by Chaïm Soutine in the museum and many other museums globally will be identified properly.
I will be glad to receive an answer to my proposal.
Sincerely yours,
імя, прозвішча