Chapter 31 II Departure from Montparnasse to join the war (1) Soutine and Modigliani

I endured heart-piercing pain. Sam Soutine Sam Sudin came to Luo Tongde to learn literacy.When his governess asked him to cheer him up with creamy coffee and he couldn't afford it, it was Libion ​​who paid.In this way he took part in the popularization of the French language, and at the same time helped Soutine, who needed just such help. Sam Soutine was the most pitiful of all: he was hungry, anxious, and demanding and squeezed from all sides consumed his fragile heart.Many people around him, headed by Chagall, hated him very much. They accused him of being gloomy and dull, and his behavior was brutal and vulgar.

Su Ding was like Quasimodo with a high fever in the Luo Tongde tavern: at the end of the tavern, he repeated the words and sentences taught to him by the female teacher word by word.The female teacher was ugly and he never looked at her.He was tightly wrapped in a tattered overcoat, his broad shoulders supported an ordinary face, his head was bowed, his chin rested on his neck, which was tucked into a woolen scarf, and his shiny black hair was buttoned up. He was wearing an old hat, and the eyes hiding under the drooping brim were fierce.Su Ding looked around, looked at everything, looked everywhere: it was to see who liked him and who didn't like him, who cheated him, who gave him cream and cigarettes.He was dying of cold and starving.He said: "I endured heartbreaking pain all day long." He often rummaged through the trash cans in the Montparnasse district, hoping to find some old clothes or shoes to exchange for fish or eggs.

Giving food to Su Ding is the best gift for him.At the dinner table, he doesn't eat at all, he devours, chews bones, and licks vegetable soup.The whole face, from the forehead to the chin, was eaten, and the food was sticky everywhere. After wiping it with his hands, he then licked and sucked his fingers with his tongue, completely disregarding the minimum rules in life. He loves a nice house, and he has absolutely no desire to mess it up.One day, he was invited to the private mansion of a wealthy family.After expressing his apologies, he left the dining table, went down to find a tree in the garden, unbuttoned his trousers and untied his hands against the tree trunk.

Someone asked him, "Why?" He replied in a frightening tone: "Your house is too beautiful, I don't want to get it dirty..." On another occasion, one of his art dealers invited him to stay in a luxury hotel in Marseilles.Soutine disappeared and spent the night hiding in a brothel for sailors near the port. He likes boxing.When a strong and muscular athlete was thrown to the ground with a bruised nose and face, causing loud shouts and curses, Soutine often laughed wildly inappropriately.His paintings are over-carved, rough and violent, and excessively deformed. Like himself, his works are very vulgar and barbaric.

He does not paint with new canvases, but always uses canvases from Clignancourt, located in the northern suburbs of Paris.Paste made from bread crumbs bought at a flea market to cover paintings on old canvases before reusing them.When the result was not good (almost always), he tore up the work he had just finished with a knife.He also tore it up when he showed it to others and the visitor did not appreciate it very much.There is a rumor among the painters of Montparnasse that no one is allowed to criticize Soutine's works, otherwise, he will tear them to pieces on the spot. When there is a shortage of raw materials, he picks up the torn canvases and sews them up again with needles and threads.Undoubtedly, the painted faces and limbs are all deformed.It is from such works of his that the uninformed discover his genius as a painter. What a irony!

He never went to the exhibition of modern paintings, but spent all day in front of the Flemish masters he admired in the Louvre, as well as the works of Courbet, Chardin, and Rembrandt.He stayed the longest with Rembrandt because he considered this painter to be the greatest of all painters.He learns to add brightness to his works in order to seek the light and spiritual openness that he lacks in his daily life.He often lowers his head, always looks down, puts his hands in his pockets, and keeps searching for the cigarette butts scattered around him. His eyes are looking for bones that can be gnawed, leftovers that can be drunk, and things that can be created by him. The details of the painting or the jokes that can make him laugh.

If the door of Luo Tongde Tavern is opened and Modigliani is standing at the door, he will suddenly be elated, with a flower-like smile on his face.He is absent-minded about learning French, and his eyes are always on the Italian Amdo Modigliani at the table in the tavern.Amdo and Sam's character and temper are exactly the opposite: he always smiles, and keeps saying hello to this and that.He was wearing a tight coat, a velveteen waistcoat, a cotton shirt tucked inside, and a long scarf fluttering gently behind his shoulders.He looks beautiful and handsome, has an amiable personality, and likes to play and play.

Amdo Modigliani sat down in front of a stranger, gently pushed away the cup and saucer in front of him with his long fingers, took out the drawing board and pencil from his pocket, and did not ask the other party for his opinion, he did it for himself. his portrait.In just three minutes, he drew a portrait, signed his name, tore off the paper from the drawing board, and solemnly handed it to the master. "Here, please give me a glass of absinthe in exchange." He uses this method every day to solve the problem of eating and drinking. But Su Ding is not so easy.He made a living by trucking large wooden boxes at the railway station.He fully agrees with Modigliani's opinion: artists should only engage in artistic creation, and should only live by the pen in their hands.However, Modigliani promoted his views in the public, and he only muttered this view all day long, and there was only one audience, which was himself.

When the Italian Modigliani took out the "Magical Comedy" from his pocket (he always took this book with him), he read Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Italian poet, "Divine Comedy" to all the consumers present. "author.When he read Baudelaire's works, the Lithuanian Soutine was rushing home to read Baudelaire's works, and then went to the Corona concert alone, where the classical music made him fascinated, immersed in the infinitely wonderful music. In the state of mind. Soutine never gave anything to others because he had nothing.Modigliani also only has his paintings, but half the people of Montparnasse own his works.Because he either exchanged his paintings for other people's drinks, or generously gave away his works for free.Sometimes, he also sold, but only for a few sous each.His generosity is legendary, known to all, to all.Andre Salmon said that when he first visited Picasso in a cafe on Godot de Mauroy Street, the Italian Modigliani gave him the little money he had.

Modigliani's clothes are shabby, but he still looks like a prince: he shaves every day and takes a bath every day, even if there is no hot water, he must wash in cold water.What about Soutine?Always dirty.One day, a doctor unexpectedly found a lice nest in his right ear. No women like him, he's shy and doesn't know how to please them.While in Virno, a young Jewish bourgeois girl fell in love with him.She invites him to meet her parents.As usual, Sudin still behaved arrogantly and defiantly.During the banquet, tomato juice and egg yolks were scattered all over the walls and carpets.The girl's relatives forgave him, thinking that the artist did not know the rules of manners, but he had a talent that no one else had.

The whole family was waiting for him to propose to the girl, and how did he react? He tried his best to find the words to use and the gestures to perform, but he couldn't do anything, and he couldn't find any feeling.It was hinted to him that in order for him to understand them better and faster, the girl's parents bought a house for the future couple and showed him to see it.Su Ding only said: This is not bad, very beautiful.But at this time he finally understood their intentions, but he still couldn't say the words of marriage proposal.After returning home, the girl finally decided to give up Su Ding and choose someone else. Later, Soutine overcame his shyness.Once, he was alone in a hotel room with a waitress.He dared to step forward to pull her hand, and gently stroked her palm with his thumb.He felt well, and with a look of joy in his eyes, he finally said a compliment: "Your hands are soft and smooth as saucers!" In Paris, he also visited brothels.Every time he sat on the red velvet stool in the waiting room and waited awkwardly, the female boss slapped her hands, six women came in, and Su Ding didn't even look at the most beautiful and charming woman among them, just picked them up casually It is always the one most similar to the characters in his paintings: they all have disheveled hair, deformed faces, flushed and sluggish from drinking too much. Modigliani is very popular with women.They were attracted by his beauty and enthusiasm, and his bourgeois demeanor was recognized by everyone.He has a son (whom he never admits to) as a result of a tryst with a Canadian college girl, Simone Dirou.She still loved him, and she wrote him some very moving letters: On the occasion of the new year, I send you the warmth from the bottom of my heart, and hope that the new year will be a year of ideological reconciliation between us... Your son is everything to me, and I often caress his son I swear, I never had any bad thoughts in my mind, ever.I love you so much, I am in so much pain, and this is my last plea... I beg you to look me in the face.I am in great pain, please give me a little comfort!A little love from you could save me from my misery! [Excerpt from "Ordinary Modigliani" by Jeanne Modigliani, published in 1961] However, what Modigliani really loved was a British poetess and a special correspondent of a British newspaper in Paris.She has green eyes, is very pretty, dainty, often wears a black dress, and wears a very striking hat, top to bottom adorned with gifts from her lover; drinks whiskey; is passionate, wealthy, and culturally knowledgeable ; Can play the piano; is Katherine Mansfield Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923), a British female writer.friend.In that era, she was an incompetent firebrand: she defended abortion. She lives in Montmartre with her lover.They beat each other openly and had crazy sex in public.Modigliani was very jealous.They fought and fought frequently in Dom and Luotongde taverns, Buddy's house and Rosali's house.Modigliani was very loud when he quarreled, especially when someone was booing, he became even crazier.Sometimes he sings with a broken voice on the street, and dances with passers-by on the sidewalk.Sometimes he still sleeps in the trash can and is chased away by the cleaners in the morning. Soutine, on the contrary, had to pour him 10 drinks before he was able to lose control a bit before he would agree to stand up and take a few awkward dance steps.He sang two songs in Yiddish, the Jewish language, then sat down and wailed. Amdo Modigliani gradually lost his temper, he laughed, he laughed like a child, he shook his head, laughed so hard that he couldn't stand upright, and then he became sad and painful.Then go home and sleep with your head in your arms, slowly recalling what happened just now. If after a while, Amdo asked Sudin to sing again, he would definitely answer that he would not. "Well, say the lyrics in Yiddish!" "I won't." "But, yesterday you..." "You heard me wrong." "What's your name? Sam, isn't that what life is about?" "I forgot." He completely forgot.He swears that he doesn't speak Yiddish at all, and that he has no interest in his former life.He despises his family. Modigliani is a southerner.The sun in Italy is more binding than the moon in Russia, and the Jews whose ancestral home is on the Mediterranean side have been influenced by various world beauties.Amdo Modigliani was Jewish and he wanted people to know that.Sometimes he would shake his fists and fight anti-Semites.He could never forget that he was Italian.In Paris, he always misses his own country, Italy, in Livorna, Italy, a port city in Italy, the hometown of Amdo Modigliani.At that time, in turn always thinking about returning to France.He used to say that in Italy he could recover and regain his strength.However, as long as he took up a paintbrush in Italy, he was very sad.What makes him sad is nothing else but thinking about Montmartre in Paris, France. When he decided to give up his studies and devote himself to painting, no one stopped him. His family supported him when he enrolled in the Florence School of Free Nudes in 1902 and when he later enrolled at the Venice Academy of Fine Arts. In 1906, with the consent of his parents, he came to Paris with a small sum of money saved by his mother.He returned to Livorno many times.Modigliani never painted or sculpted against the will of his family. Soutine lived in a ghetto near Minsk when he was a child.My father was very poor and made a living by mending old clothes for others.Soutine is his tenth child.Father beat son when he found out he was learning to paint.His brothers also held the same opinion as his father and unanimously opposed his painting.His father's wish was for Sam to be a shoemaker. At the age of 16, he even violated the "law" by drawing a portrait of the Jewish priest in the village.The punishment came to him immediately: after being beaten severely, he was locked up in the cold storage of the village butcher shop.In order to avoid a tragedy, the butcher shop owner gave Sudin 25 rubles.It was with this money that Sutin went to Minsk.There, he worked as a negative repairer in a photo studio and attended painting school.It was at the Wilno School of Fine Arts that the young Sam met Kikoin and Klimeni.He was able to come to Paris thanks to the generosity of a doctor in Virno.At that time, he basically hadn't read anything, while Modigliani had already read the famous writers Mallarme and Lautreamont (1846-1870), a French writer who was regarded as the pioneer of surrealism.Works by the German philosopher Nietzsche, the Italian writer Danonzio, the French philosopher Bergson and the Russian revolutionary and geographer Kropotkin and other writers have been found in his bookcase.His older brother, a Socialist fighter, was arrested and imprisoned before being elected to parliament.But no one in Su Ding's family is engaged in politics. Until Barnes arrived in 1922, Soutine had been living in poverty and suffering in thought.With the strong support of his family, Modigliani has been inspired in many ways. When Modigliani first came to Paris in 1906, he stayed directly in a high-end hotel near the Madeleine Cathedral, and then began to study painting at the Colarosi School.One day, when he came out of his residence to go to another room through the "laundry boat" corridor, he found a simple warehouse at the corner of Lebuque Street, so he rented it as a studio. In 1909, the money his mother gave him ran out, and he failed at Montmartre, where he failed.However, he has no regrets.The most important thing is that he can live freely here and devote himself to the art he loves. Modigliani was brave.When the Great War broke out, he had considered joining the army, but the military authorities had rejected his request.For a time, he was extremely discouraged and disappointed.But this did not prevent him from continuing to express strong anti-militarist ideas, and he was beaten for insulting Serbian soldiers on the streets of Montmartre. As for Sudin, he was afraid of everything, even employees of the management department telling him about the anti-militarist sentiments of Lithuanian civil servants.He was so timid that he had to be accompanied by a person when he went to the official counter to do errands, the reason was to prevent some unexpected incidents, which he was unable to deal with. He has very few friends.He and Chicoin were born in the same city, both of them had studied painting in Minsk, they came to Paris from Wilno together, they lived in the same residential area where foreign artists lived, but they did not speak to each other, never died. Contact each other.Sam was angry with his compatriots Gikoyn and Klimeni, who claimed to be his bitter enemies. Everyone knows Modigliani. In 1907, a year after he settled in Paris, he met the doctor Paul Alexander.This man was his first patron and one of the first to supply him with hashish.Doc Alexandre bought a house in the Rue delta, and he was frequented by poor artists, among them: Glaze, Le Fauconnier, the sculptors Drouard and Brancusi.Modigliani's paintings are all placed there.Paul Alexander posed for him, bought a large number of his works, and persuaded him to participate in the 1908 Independent Exhibition. Apollinaire once helped him sell his works.Another friend of his, Max Jacob, knew Paul Guillaume.So Max introduced Guillaume to Modigliani.Guillaume later became his first art dealer.Modigliani talked about religion and Judaism with Max, and gave Max a portrait with the inscription "To my dear brother". He was also associated with Franck Havilland, who also provided his house for painting. It was Modigliani who helped Anna Akhmatova understand Paris.He also often recites poems with her. He protects his friend Yutriro in Montmartre everywhere, and he feels that he has a closer relationship with Yutriro than with Picasso. Soutine is also his friend.Modigliani often put this friend under his wing and carefully protected him.It was he who taught Soutine: chew food with your mouth shut, don't eat from other people's plates, and don't snore while sleeping in restaurants.For Soutine, Modigliani is his brother.Soutine couldn't be more grateful to him. These two men are so different, yet there is something solid and unshakable that binds them together.Like Soutine, Modigliani often destroyed his own works, whether paintings or sculptures.When in Livorno, Modigliani threw many pieces of Carana marble into the canals in the city. The two of them have always had a common desire to gain independence.They belonged to no faction, neither the thick legs of the "laundry boats" nor the Italian Futurists (Modigliani refused to vouch for them); they belonged neither to Fauvism nor to Cubism; He neither attended Matisse's painting school nor rarely went to the house of the Stein brothers and sisters on Fleuris Street.They want to be free, so they stay away from all factions. Both of them fight against a common enemy that destroys their bodies.Amdo Modigliani suffered from lung disease in his childhood. Due to continuous drinking and drug use, the lung disease turned into tuberculosis over time.And Sam Soutine had tapeworms and stomach pains, which eventually turned into stomach ulcers due to malnutrition.The Italians (Modigliani) often cough violently and are out of breath; while the Russians (Sudin) continue to take large doses of bismuth, which can only slightly relieve the pain.In the end, both of them suffer from their own tragic fate.Everyone knows that Soutine's tragedy stems from his childhood tragedy.One need only look at the way he walked in the street, stooped, hands in the pockets of his battered overcoat, to know how heavily his history weighed on him. Amdo Modigliani always used his rich and energetic appearance to cover up his tragedy.In fact, he used alcohol and drugs to anesthetize himself.Yet neither cinchona, schnapps, super stout, nor lime liqueur, nor hashish nor cocaine could fool Soutine.He knew what pain Amdo Modigliani was going to overcome, and he knew what kind of tears Amdo would swallow in his stomach no matter whether he was in the arms of a woman or at the bar.The reason why he knew this very well was that at the beginning of the century, the two of them lived together in the residential area of ​​Rue Falguier.At that time, when Modigliani was fighting against the disease, he was also fighting against himself, just to realize the only lingering dream in his heart: not to engage in painting, but to engage in sculpture, and only in sculpture.