Dead Fowl

1926

Chaim Soutine
Born Minsk (Russian Empire, now Belarus), 1893; died Paris, 1943

In the mid-1920s, Chaim Soutine produced a group of still-life paintings featuring hanging fowl and freshly butchered sides of meat, subjects represented in European art for centuries. Rather than depict the animals as lifeless and limp, he often portrayed them as tragic figures, as in the painting here. The animated quality of the thick, swirling paint suggests the bird is writhing in its final moments. These visceral still lifes were inspired by Soutine’s study of 17th-century Dutch market scenes, yet were painted after carcasses he arranged in his studio.

Status: On View, Gallery 392
Department: Modern Art

Artist: Chaim Soutine
Title: Dead Fowl
Place: Lithuania (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1926
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed, l.l.: "Soutine"
Dimensions: 97.5 × 63.3 cm (38 3/8 × 24 7/8 in.)
Credit Line: Joseph Winterbotham Collection
Reference Number: 1937.167
Copyright: © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Elie Faure, Soutine (Paris: Les Éditions G. Crès, 1929), pl. 14, as Le Dindon, 1924.
Valentine Gallery, Paintings by Soutine, exh. cat. (New York: Valentine Gallery, 1936), n.p., cat. 12, as Le Dandon, n.d.
The Art Institute of Chicago, The Winterbotham Collection, exh. cat. (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1947), p. 39, as Dead Fowl, 1926 or 1927.
Monroe Wheeler, Soutine, exh. cat. (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1950), pp. 71 (ill.) and 113, as Rooster, c. 1926.
Jack Tworkov, “ The Wandering Soutine,” Art News XLIX:7, part 1 (November 1950), p. 33 (ill.), as Rooster, 1926.
Margaret Breuning, “The Cataclysmic World of Chaim Soutine,” Art Digest 25:4 (November 15, 1950), p. 11, as Rooster.
Jewish Community Center, Dedication Exhibition: Twentieth Century Art by Jewish Artists, exh. cat. (Milwaukee: Jewish Community Center, 1955), n.p., cat. 59, as Dead Fowl, n.d.
Arts Club, Chaim Soutine: Paintings, exh. cat. (Chicago: Arts Club, 1956), n.p., cat. 46, as Dead Fowl, 1926 or 1927.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), p. 421, as Dead Fowl, c. 1926.
The Arts Council of Great Britain, Chaim Soutine, 1893-1943, exh. cat. (London: The Arts Council of Great Britain, 1963), p. 23.
Edward Barry, “A Legacy that Grows—Winterbotham Collection,” The Chicago Tribune (August 25, 1963).
Renata Negri, Chaim Soutine (Pinacoteca de los genios: La más grandiosa colección de arte del mundo) (Buenos Aires: Editorial Codex, 1965), n.p., pl. X–XI, as El Gallo, 1926.
Renata Negri, Soutine (Milan: Fratelli Fabbri Editori, 1966), n.p. (ill.), pl. X, as Il gallo, c. 1926.
A. James Speyer, “Twentieth-Century European Paintings and Sculpture,” Apollo LXXXIV:55 (September 1966), p. 225.
Robert L. Herbert, “Soutine,” Encyclopedia of World Art 13 (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967), p. 180, as Dead Fowl, c. 1926.
Renata Negri, L’Arte Moderna 10:87 (1967), p. 218 (ill.).
Henri Serouya, Soutine (Paris: Hachette, 1967), n.p (ill.), pl. X–XI, as Le Coq, 1926.
Israel Museum, Soutine, exh. cat. (Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1968), pl. 10–11.
Praeger Encyclopedia of Art 5 (New York: Praeger, 1971), p. 1899, as Cock, c. 1926.
Alfred Werner, “The Triumph of Soutine,” Jewish Chronicle Literary Supplement (December 1, 1972), p. v (ill.), as Dead Fowl, n.d.
Pierre Courthion, Soutine, Peintre du déchirant (Lausanne: Edita, 1972), pp. 78 and 79, and 249, fig. a, as Dinde plumée et pendue devant une table, 1926–1927.
Orangerie des Tuileries, Soutine, exh. cat. (Paris: Orangerie des Tuileries, 1973), pp. 6 and 29, cat. 24 (ill.), as Le dindon, 1924.
Jeanine Warnod, “L’angoisse et la tendresse de Soutine,” Le Figaro (April 30, 1973), p. 12, as Dindon, 1924.
A. Soutine, L’Amateur de L’Art (May–September 1973), p. 15.
G. Hilaire, Le Spectacle du Monde (September 1973), p. 101.
Nakayama Mikio, Grand Collection of World Art: Modigliani and the School of Paris 24 (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1975), p. 116, fig. 23.
Alfred Werner, Chaim Soutine (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1977), p. 59, fig. 70.
A. James Speyer and Courtney Graham Donnell, Twentieth Century European Paintings (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), p. 70, cat. 4A1, as Dead Fowl, c. 1926.
Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Chaim Soutine, 1893-1943, exh. cat. (Munster, Germany: Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, 1981), pp. 208 and 246, cat. 65 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, The Joseph Winterbotham Collection: A Living Tradition (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1986), pp. 11, 28 (ill.), and 63, as Dead Fowl, c. 1926.
Esti Dunow, Chaim Soutine, 1893–1943, Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1981, p. 206, no. 123, as Fowl, c. 1926.
Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, Exposition Yuzo Saheki et les peintres de l’École de Paris, exh. cat. (Osaka, Japan: Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, 1989), n.p., cat. 137 (ill.), as Dinde plumée et pendue devant une table, 1926.
Arts Club, The Arts Club of Chicago: Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Exhibition, exh. cat. (Chicago: Arts Club, 1992), p. 57 (ill.), as Dead Fowl, 1926.
Maurice Tuchman, Esti Dunow, Klaus Perls, Chaim Soutine (1893–1943): Catalogue Raisonné Werkverzeichnis I (Köln: Benedikt Taschen Verlag, 1993), pp. 446 and 448 (ill.), no. 80, as Dead Fowl, La volaille morte, Totes Geflügel, c. 1925.
James N. Wood, Treasures of 19th and 20th Century Painting (New York: Abbeville Press, 1993), p. 230 (ill.), Dead Fowl, 1926.
Art Institute, Masterworks of Modern Art from The Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Nagaoka: Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, 1994), pp. 112, cat. 32, 113 (ill.), as Dead Fowl, 1926.

New York, Valentine Gallery, Paintings by Soutine, February 3–22, 1936, n.p., cat. 12, as Le Dandon, n.d.
Palm Beach, FL., Society of the Four Arts, February 16–March 9, 1944.
The Art Institute of Chicago, The Winterbotham Collection, May 23–June 22, 1947, p. 39, as Dead Fowl, 1926 or 1927.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Soutine, October 31, 1950–January 7, 1951, pp. 71 (ill.) and 113, as Rooster, c. 1926; traveled to the Cleveland Museum of Art, January 30–March 18, 1951.
Milwaukee, Jewish Community Center, Dedication Exhibition: Twentieth Century Art by Jewish Artists, January 30–February 20, 1955, n.p., cat. 59, as Dead Fowl, n.d.
Chicago, Arts Club, Chaim Soutine: Paintings, October 1–31, 1956, n.p., cat. 46, as Dead Fowl, 1926 or 1927.
Paris, Orangerie des Tuileries, Soutine, April 27–September 17, 1973, pp. 6 and 29, cat. 24 (ill.), as Le dindon, 1924.
Munster, Germany, Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Chaim Soutine, 1893-1943, December 13, 1981–February 28, 1982, pp. 208 and 246, cat. 65 (ill.), as Gerupfter Truthahn, 1926; traveled to Tübingen, Kunsthalle, March 26–May 31, 1982, London, Hayward Gallery, July 14–August 22, 1982, and Lucerne, Kunstmuseum, August 31– October 31, 1982.
Osaka, Japan, Ōsaka Shiritsu Bijutsuka, Exposition Yuzo Saheki et les peintres de l’École de Paris, August 12–September 24, 1989, n.p., cat. 137 (ill.), as Dinde plumée et pendue devant une table, 1926; traveled to the Hiroshima Bijutsukan, September 25–November 3, 1989, and Yokohama, Sogō Bijutsukan, November 15–December 18, 1989.
Chicago, Arts Club, The Arts Club of Chicago: Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Exhibition, May 11–June 26, 1992, p. 57 (ill.), as Dead Fowl, 1926.
Art Institute and Asahi Shimbun (organizers), Masterworks of Modern Art from The Art Institute of Chicago, pp. 112, cat. 32, 113 (ill.), as Dead Fowl, 1926; traveled to Nagaoka, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, April 20–May 29, 1994; Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, June 10–July 24, 1994; and Yokohama Museum of Art, August 6–September 25, 1994.
New York, Jewish Museum, Chaim Soutine: Flesh, May 4–September 16, 2018.

Madame Juliette Guillaume, Paris, by May 10, 1937 [this and the following according to Valentine Gallery sales records, May 1937 and email from Julia May Boddewyn, June 18, 2007, copies in curatorial file]; sold through Valentine Gallery, New York to the Art Institute of Chicago, May 10, 1937.

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