Hanging Turkey, ca. 1925

Chaïm Soutine, Russian, active in France, 1893–1943

Hanging Turkey, ca. 1925

Oil on millboard
The Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, on long-term loan to the Princeton University Art Museum
© 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
photo: Bruce M. White

Between 1923 and 1925, Soutine produced twenty-two paintings of dead fowl. Almost all present a close-up view of a single bird, set into shallow space and located in the center of the composition. Finding models for this project proved challenging. While staying at Le Blanc on the Creuse River, Soutine’s friend Paulette Jourdain would walk to neighboring farms to find birds for him to paint. Initially, the farmers pointed her in the direction of those that would be best for cooking. As she recalled, “After awhile I would explain, ‘It’s not for the eating . . . it’s for the color.' . . . and the farmers ended up understanding the work of the painter and were very nice to him.”

Chaïm Soutine, Russian, active in France, 1893–1943. <em>Dead Fowl</em>, ca. 1924. Oil on canvas, 110.4 x 81.1 cm. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Justin K. Thannhauser. © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY

Chaïm Soutine, Russian, active in France, 1883–1943. <em>Dead Fowl</em>, 1926. Oil on canvas, 97.5 x 63.3 cm. Art Institute of Chicago, Joseph Winterbotham Collection, 1937.167. © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / Image courtesy The Art Institute of Chicago