Jules Pascin
(1885-1930)Jules Pascin, born Julius Mordecai Pincas on March 31, 1885, in Vidin, Bulgaria, was the eighth of eleven children in a wealthy Sephardic Jewish family. His father, Marcus Pincas, was a prosperous grain merchant who conducted trade along the Danube River. His mother, Sophie Russo, came from a Sephardic family that had moved from Trieste to Zemun before settling in Vidin. The family spoke Judaeo-Spanish at home. In 1892, the Pincas family relocated to Bucharest, Romania, where his father established a grain company.
Drawings and sketches
Jules Pascin Paintings outside this album
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Jules Pascin, born Julius Mordecai Pincas on March 31, 1885, in Vidin, Bulgaria, was the eighth of eleven children in a wealthy Sephardic Jewish family. His father, Marcus Pincas, was a prosperous grain merchant who conducted trade along the Danube River. His mother, Sophie Russo, came from a Sephardic family that had moved from Trieste to Zemun before settling in Vidin. The family spoke Judaeo-Spanish at home. In 1892, the Pincas family relocated to Bucharest, Romania, where his father established a grain company.
Pascin showed an early interest in art and began drawing while still a teenager. At age fifteen, he worked briefly for his father’s firm but spent much of his time sketching at a local brothel under the encouragement of its madam. These early experiences influenced his later artistic focus on human figures and intimate scenes.
In 1902, at age seventeen, Pascin left Bucharest to study painting in Vienna. He later moved to Munich in 1903 and attended Moritz Heymann’s Art School. During this period, he supported himself by contributing satirical drawings to German magazines such as Simplicissimus and Lustige Blätter. To avoid associating his family name with these works (which his father disapproved of), he adopted the pseudonym “Pascin,” an anagram of “Pincas.”
Move to Paris and Early Career
In December 1905, Pascin moved to Paris during the height of its cultural renaissance. He became part of the vibrant Montparnasse art scene and was warmly welcomed by artists who frequented Café du Dôme. Known for his wit and charm, Pascin quickly became a central figure among the bohemian community.
During this time, Pascin focused on creating thousands of watercolors, sketches, caricatures, and drawings that were sold to newspapers and magazines. His first solo exhibition took place in 1907 at Paul Cassirer Gallery in Berlin. Between 1905 and 1914, he exhibited regularly at prestigious venues such as the Salon d’Automne and Salon des Indépendants in Paris as well as the Berlin Secession.
Although initially influenced by Fauvism and Cézanne’s style during this period, Pascin struggled with self-doubt about achieving critical success as a painter. Dissatisfied with his progress in painting compared to drawing, he studied further at Académie Colarossi while also copying works by Old Masters at the Louvre.
Life in America (1914–1920)
At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Pascin left Europe to avoid conscription into the Bulgarian army. He traveled briefly to London before immigrating to New York City on October 8th that year. In America, he became part of an avant-garde circle that included artists like Walt Kuhn and Max Weber.
From 1914 to 1920, Pascin traveled extensively across southern states such as Louisiana and Florida as well as Cuba. He created numerous sketches depicting street life during these travels while experimenting with Cubist influences (which he later abandoned). In New York City in 1918, he married Hermine David—a fellow artist—at City Hall; their witnesses included prominent painters Max Weber and Maurice Sterne.
In September 1920, Pascin became a naturalized U.S. citizen with support from Alfred Stieglitz but returned shortly afterward to Paris.
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