Stephan Lévy-Kuentz's Pascin Biography Reassesses a Misunderstood Painter

Stephan Lévy-Kuentz has long championed the rehabilitation of Bulgarian painter Julius Pascin, and his latest book, published by Éditions la Différence, is a remarkable work of biographical research and analysis of the artist's oeuvre. Pascin, born in 1885 and died in 1930, is an artist whose myth has long overshadowed his work. Lévy-Kuentz traces Pascin's biography—his travels to Vienna, Munich, Paris, New York, and back to Paris—and his loves and friendships. He follows the evolution of Pascin's work, identifying influences from Viennese and German Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism, while emphasizing the painter's originality and his constant break with aesthetic movements and artist communities of his time. This may explain the neglect Pascin suffered after his death. In a preface, Pascal Quignard recalls that the Wandering Jew was called 'Bonhomme temps'; for Pascin, time has finally come. The book includes a review by Jacques Henric originally published in art press n°364 (February 2010).