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Date: 1893-1943

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Description: Painted circa 1931.

oil on canvas

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Dimensions: 113 by 72.5cm.

44 1/2 by 28 1/2 in.

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Provenance: THE COLLECTION OF MADELEINE CASTAING FROM THE ESTATE OF MICHEL CASTAING

Marcellin and Madeleine Castaing, Paris (acquired from the artist)
Michel Castaing, Paris (son of the above)
Thence by descent to the present owners

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Exhibited: Chicago, Arts Club, Paintings by Chaim Soutine, 1935, possibly no. 1
New York, Valentine Gallery, Eighteen Selected Paintings by Soutine, 1937, no. 13
Paris, Orangerie des Tuileries, Soutine, 1973, no. 55, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Milan, Galleria Bergamini, Chaim Soutine (1893-1943). I Dipinti della Collezione Castaing, 1987, no. 7, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Chartres, Musée de Chartres, Soutine, 1989, no. 58, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Lugano, Museo d'Arte Moderna, Chaim Soutine, 1995, no. 75, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
New York, The Jewish Museum; Los Angeles, County Museum of Art and Cincinnati, Art Museum, An Expressionist in Paris: The Paintings of Chaim Soutine, 1998-99, no. 51, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

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Published: "A Great Master of Age on View", in New York Post, 8th May 1937, illustrated
Martha Davidson, "New Exhibitions of the Week: Soutine in His Most Important American Show", in Art News, vol. 35, no. 32, New York, 8th May 1937, p. 15, illustrated (titled Baigneuse and as dating from 1936)
New York, 15th-31st October 1944, p. 14, mentioned
Soutine (exhibition catalogue), Museum of Modern Art, New York and Museum of Art, Cleveland, 1950, p. 113, listed; p. 91, illustrated
Alfred Werner, "Chaim Soutine: Self-Liberation through Art", in Chicago Jewish Forum, vol. 10, no. 3, Chicago, Spring 1952, p. 179, illustrated
Paolo D'Ancona, Some Aspects of Expressionism: Modigliani, Chagall, Soutine, Pascin, Milan, 1954, p. 64, mentioned
Marcellin Castaing and Jean Leymarie, Soutine, Paris and Lausanne, 1963, p. 30, mentioned; pl. XXIII, illustrated in colour
Chaim Soutine, 1893-1943 (exhibition catalogue), Tate Gallery, London and Arts Festival, Edinburgh, 1963, p. 23, mentioned
Andrew Forge, Soutine, London, 1965, p. 42, mentioned
Renata Negri, "Soutine", in L'Arte Moderna, vol. 10, no. 87, Milan, 1967, p. 236, illustrated
Pierre Courthion, Soutine. Peintre du déchirant, Lausanne, 1972, p. 276, fig. A, illustrated
Georges Hilaire, "Le Paroxysme méthodique de Soutine", in Le Spectacle du Monde, no. 138, Paris, September 1973, p. 101, pl. 3, illustrated
Isabelle Fontaine and Dominique Bozo, "Expositions, Orangerie des Tuileries, Soutine", in Revue du Louvre et des Musées de France, vol. 23, no. 3, Paris, 1973, p. 201, fig. 2, illustrated
Alfred Werner, South Atlantic Quarterly, Spring 1974, p. 248, mentioned
Renata Negri, La Scuola di Parigi e i suoi protagonisti, Milan, 1977, p. 191, mentioned
Alfred Werner, Chaim Soutine, New York, 1977, p. 49, mentioned; p. 33, fig. 30, illustrated
Chaim Soutine, 1893-1943 (exhibition catalogue), Westfälisches Landesmuseum, Münster, 1981, p. 137, no. 43, illustrated
John Yau and Rachel Stella, "Madeleine Castaing Reminisces About Chaim Soutine", in Arts, vol. 59, no. 4, New York, December 1984, p. 73, mentioned
Roger Bouillot, "Chartres: Soutine", in L'?il, no. 411, Lausanne, October 1989, p. 83, mentioned
Maurice Tuchman, Esti Dunow and Klaus Perls, Chaim Soutine. Catalogue raisonné, Cologne, 1993, vol. II, p. 513, illustrated, and p. 720, no. 143, illustrated in colour

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Notes: The idea for the present work possibly originated during Soutine's frequent trips to Amsterdam, where he travelled in order to contemplate works by Rembrandt. Writing about the present work, Maïthé Vallès-Bled commented: "In Soutine's work, the 1930s are marked by the so-called 'Chartres period'. [...] They [Marcellin and Madeleine Castaing] invited him to their residence in Lèves, very close to Chartres. It was at the Castaings' house that he met Eric Satie and Maurice Sachs. In Lèves Soutine painted a large proportion of his entire work of that period. He resumed the landscape painting he had abandoned in 1925. He borrowed from Rembrandt the theme of Suzanne at the Bath and painted Woman Entering the Water [the present work] in one of the more secluded spots of the park in Lèves, beside a small stream. He chose as his model a young woman from the village. This painting is one of Soutine's masterpieces, showing up his genius as a colourist, especially in paintings the white tones" (M. Vallès-Bled, in Chaim Soutine (exhibition catalogue), Museo d'Arte Moderna, Lugano, 1995, p. 174).