Carcasses Never Looked So Good

Walking into the Chaim Soutine's exhibit at Cheim & Read gallery is surprisingly uplifting even though most of the artist's paintings depict dead animals. The show is such a standout in Chelsea because few galleries in this part of town pull out the big guns of the 20th century during the summer months. After seeing dried cereal glued on a canvas and T-shirts pinned to a wall at other galleries, I reveled in these dense oil paintings. Besides the slaughterhouse imagery, a number of wonderful landscapes are on display. On top of that, the gallery hangs works by Pollock, de Kooning and others next to Soutine to illustrate his influence on these other masters. (Images via Cheim & Read)