Melanie

I love, love this quirky piece, Melanie, the School Teacher, 1922, by
Chaim Soutine, part of the collection at my local Columbus Museum

of Art. A postcard of the painting is on my kitchen blackboard. She's

perfect for the holidays, with cheery colors and a sweet "Whovillian"

little smile. The artist Soutine was born in Russia and grew up in a

Lithuanian Jewish ghetto where he encountered community

opposition for his propensity for drawing images which violated

Talmudic law. He arrived in Paris in 1913, where he initially lived in

desperate poverty. In 1915 he met Modigliani, with whom he

developed a close friendship. His work was loosely connected with the
Parisian mainstream, but owes much of his work to Fauvism and
Expressionism. His financial condition improved suddenly after 1923,
through growing patronage, and he became well known for his works
of distorted images and intense colors.

Soutine by Modigliani, 1916