Cuban Arts Connection - A Cuban Arts Blog: August 2014

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Jules Pascin - His Cuban Influence

Jules Pascin (French 1885-1930)

Jules Pascin

Born in Bulgaria, as Jules Pincas, of a Spanish-Jewish father and Serbian-Italian mother, Pascin moved to Vienna where he started his studies as a painter. After passing by Berlin and Munich, where, he was a contributor to the satirical review ', he settled in Paris in 1905. Here he changed his name to Pascin. During the First World War he lived in America, where he adopted American citizenship.

In 1918 he married Hermine David, a talented painter herself and returned to Paris in 1922. They rented a studio in Montmartre, center of Bohemian Paris where he struck up friendships with Chagall, Soutine, Modigliani and Foujita. His models were the local dancer girls and prostitutes and his paintings soon made him a leader of the École de Paris.

For several years he worked as a book illustrator and illustrated books such as: Abecedaire des filles et de l'enfant cheri and Aux lumieres de Paris of P. Mac Orlan, Trois petites filles dans la rue of A. Warnod and Cendrillon of de Perrault. In 1930, on the eve of his ever solo exhibition at the Galerie Georges Petit, Paris a tormented Pascin committed suicide. Several of the galleries in Paris closed on the day of his funeral as a sign of respect.

Public collections include
Musée National d'art Moderne, Paris
Musée du Petit Palais, Paris
Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Gallery, Berlin
Bibliography
Yves HEMIN, Guy KROHG, Klaus PERLS and Abel RAMBERT. Pascin. Catalogue Raisonné. Peintures, aquarelles, pastels, dessins. Paris, 1987.

Jules Pascin

James Wilson Morrice, Canadian Painter with ties to Cuban Painting

James Wilson Morrice 1865–1924

Canadian landscape painter. Born 10 August 1865 at Montreal. Educated at Toronto University 1882–6 and studied law 1886–9. Went to Europe 1889 or 1890, visiting Holland; then studied art in Paris at the Académie Julian and under Harpignies. Worked mainly in France, returning to Canada every year until 1915; also painted in Venice, North Africa (with Matisse at Tangiers in the winters of 1911–12 and 1912–13), Cuba and the West Indies. Morrice was a wealthy man and did not have to work for a living. This gave him the freedom to travel to Italy, Belgium, Holland, Great Britain, Algeria, Jamaica, and Cuba to paint. He was one of the first foreigners to show interest in painting the landscapes and people of Cuba. Exhibited in Paris at the Société Nationale and, from 1905, the Salon d'Automne; with several Canadian societies and at Wm. Scott and Sons of Montreal; in London at the Goupil Gallery and, from 1901, with the International Society (associate 1904). Commissioned to do a painting for the War Memorials collection, Ottawa. Retrospective exhibition at the Salon d'Automne 1923. Died 23 January 1924 at Tunis. Memorial exhibitions at the Art Association of Montreal 1925, the Galleries Simonson, Paris, 1926, and as part of the Canadian Art exhibition at the Jeu de Paume 1927; also in the Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 1958.

Published in:
Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, II