March 12, 2021
Given my general preference for art created before World War II, it would seem trundling along to view the new exhibition, “Soutine/de Kooning: Conversations in Paint” which opened last weekend at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia wouldn’t be on the cards. Yet this intriguing show not only shines a deserving spotlight on a truly intense, talented artist but also reveals a great deal about the unexpected art-historical influences on an artist whose work I’ve always disliked. Who says you can’t teach a middle-aged art critic new tricks?
Expressionist painter Chaïm Soutine (1893–1943) and Abstract Expressionist painter Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), although only a decade apart in age, inhabited very different artistic worlds. Both left the lands of their birth Russia and The Netherlands, respectively to make their fortunes elsewhere.