Jules Pascin: The “Oriental” Prince of Montparnasse?

Jules Pascin, the Bulgarian-born artist of Jewish origin, is usually regarded as a voluntary exile, one of the leaders of the international École de Paris. Pascin was a Sephardic Jew, who grew up in a highly educated secular family. However, from an early age he distanced himself from Judaism, changing his name from Julius Mordecai Pincas to Jules Pascin. Nevertheless, he was unable to escape his Jewish (and as such, Oriental) image among his contemporaries.

In my lecture, I propose to examine Pascin’s often neglected, yet perplexing question of Jewish identity. His non-Jewish, west European surrounding clearly had a double view of him, both as the Other -geographically foreign south-east European - but also as a Sephardic Jew, both of which shaped his self-perception. Pascin’s pronounced artistic interest in the erotic themes was often viewed as a result of his “oriental sensuality” and many saw in him an "Oriental Jew," while his displacement recalled the myth of a "Wandering Jew." By examining portraits of Pascin created by other artists, as well as the various self-portraits he created, I hope to show how he did not reject, and occasionally even consciously embraced these external views of himself. Moreover, this self-image clearly led towards Pascin’s identification with, but also criticism of other marginal figures and outcasts, especially gypsies and immigrants, also considered to come from the East. By striving to bring them center stage, emphasizing the mundane and banal facets of their lives, Pascin also commented about himself as a Jew.