MARC CHAGALL:
VISIONS and
COLOURS
1
2
MARC CHAGALL:
VISIONS and
COLOURS August 20th - October 30th 2015
MARC CHAGALL: VISIONS and COLOURS August 20th - October 30th 2015
Gilden’s Arts Gallery presents a new exhibition of works by Marc Chagall to add a twist of vivacious colours to your summer. The exhibition covers the artist’s oeuvre from his early etchings until the most mature post war lithographs. Marc Chagall's poetic, figurative style made him one of the most popular modern artists, while his long life and varied output made him one of the most internationally recognised. Chagall's distinction lies in his steady faith in the power of figurative art, which he maintained despite absorbing ideas from Fauvism and Cubism. Born in the Russian town of Vitebsk to a very traditional Jewish family, Chagall’s poetic works recall a sort of childish fantasy and the magical background of Russian story tales. Renowned for their magnificent coloration and fantastic imagery, the many series of Marc Chagall range across themes and sentiment. From his narrative renderings of Daphnis and Chloe and The Arabian Nights, to his visions of the Old Testament, a delightful interpretation full of symbols and colours. The world he depicts is full of happiness and optimism, a world in colours as if seen throughout the outstanding stained glass windows he realised in Jerusalem. Considered to be one of the most influential and colourful artists of the twentieth century, Marc Chagall’s work has become instantly recognisable and praised worldwide, thus cementing him as a modern master of art. He managed to combine his Russian roots and the Parisian avant-garde, with its Fauvist, Cubist, Expressionist styles, to create a visual language of his own. We look forward to greeting you in our Hampstead gallery to enjoy “Marc Chagall: Visions and Colours”. Daniela, Veronica, Costanza and Ofer. 3
EARLY ETCHINGS
Marc Chagall’s interest in etching began when he was thirty-five years old while still living in Berlin before moving to Paris. He was passionate about learning all the technical aspects of using the burin and drypoint in this newly discovered art form. The work on the next page is a very early etching and aquatint, a marvellous example of the young Chagall’s interest in the study of tones. According to the Chagall catalogue Raisonne of engravings written by Eberhard Kornfeld, there are only four known proofs printed of the first state before Chagall re-worked the plate and before the final edition. Of these four proofs only one is in black and white while the other three proofs are hand coloured. This impression is an extremely rare additional proof of this state and the only other black and white proof is now in the collection of the Chagall Archives in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. The regular and final edition was issued in 1925. It was printed in a limited edition of 100 signed and numbered impressions with a few artist proofs aside.
5
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Appearance of the Angel I, 1924/1925 Original Hand Signed and Inscribed Etching with Aquatint on older Arches paper 53 x 37.5 cm / 20.8 x 14.7 in 6
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Villager and the Snake, 1927/1952 Original Hand-Coloured Etching on Montval paper 36 x 29 cm / 14.2 x 11.4 in 7
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Lion and the Midge, 1952 Original Hand-Coloured Etching on Montval paper 36 x 29 cm / 14.2 x 11.4 in 8
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Woodcutter and Mercury, 1927/1952 Original Hand-Coloured Etching on Montval paper 36 x 29 cm / 14.2 x 11.4 in 9
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Little Fish and the Fisherman, 1927/1952 Original Hand-Coloured Etching on Montval paper 36 x 29 cm / 14.2 x 11.4 in 10
The BIBLE
Marc Chagall carefully selected biblical themes for his two illustrated Bible books. His meticulous approach conveys how intensively he must have contemplated the existence of humanity and the human belief in God. By the end of the first passage of his artistic voyage through the Old Testament (in 1956 with his series “La Bible”), he had impressively produced 135 original works of graphic art (105 etchings and 30 lithographs). With his second series (“Dessins pour La Bible / Illustrations for the Bible” of 1960), he added another 48 lithographs, which dealt mostly with the story of creation and women in the Old Testament. In doing so, Chagall’s biblically themed works became the most important element of his original graphic art.
11
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 Moses, 1956 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in colours on Arches vellum paper 37.6 x 26.3 cm / 14.8 x 10.3 in 12
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 Sara and Abimelech, 1960 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in colours on Arches vellum paper 52.3 x 38 cm / 20.6 x 15 in 13
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 Bath-Sheba at the Feet of David, 1956 Original Hand-Coloured Etching with Watercolour on Arches vellum paper 45.2 x 39 cm / 18.8 x 15.35 in 14
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Descent Toward Sodom, 1956 Original Hand-Coloured Etching with Watercolour on Arches vellum paper 53.5 x 39 cm / 20.9 x 15.35 in 15
Marc Chagall designed the sets and costumes for Leonide Massine’s production of “Aleko” with the American Ballet Theatre. The story of Aleko was written by Alexander Pushkin and the music was composed by Tchaikovsky. It premiered in Mexico City on the 8th of September 1942. As the romantic he was, Chagall took great pleasure in designing sets and costumes for theatre productions: “I adore the theatre and I am a painter. I think the two are made for a marriage of love. I will give all my soul to proof this once more”. MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 Aleko, 1956 Hand Signed and Numbered Etching and Aquatint in Colours on Rives BFK vellum paper 55.5 x 71.5 cm / 21.6 x 28.1 in 17
MARC CHAGALL 1887 - 1985 Landscape with Isbas, 1957 Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on Arches paper 47.5 x 63.3 cm / 18.7 x 25 in 18
MARC CHAGALL 1887 - 1985 The Saint-Louis Island in Paris, 1959 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on Arches paper 56 x 76 cm \ 22 x 29.9 in 19
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Monsters of the Notre-Dame, 1954 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on vellum paper 37 x 28 cm / 14.6 x 11 in 20
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Rooster and the Clock, circa 1956 Hand Signed and Numbered Etching with Aquatint in Colours on BFK Rives paper 55.2 x 38 cm / 21.7 x 14.9 in 21
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Joy of Living, 1967 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in colours on Arches vellum paper 74.5 x 53.5 cm / 29.3 x 21.2 in 22
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 Branch with Flute Player, 1957 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph on Canson gray paper 65.3 x 50 cm / 25.7 x 19.6 in 23
MONOTYPES
Marc Chagall began to produce monotypes only when Gerald Cramer, his Swiss publisher at the time, suggested it to him in 1961. From that point, Chagall worked with Cramer and the printer Jacques Frelaut to execute an outstanding group of 306 monotypes including our work “The Red Boot”. An exhibition of examples from that body of works was presented at the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York between November 1979 and January 1980. Riva Castlemain, Director of the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books at the MOMA, interestingly noted at the time that “This exhibition is about the creative interaction of three devoted people”. This work, The Red Boot, has many typical aspects of iconography of this artist such as the couple, the Bouquet and the child.
24
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Red Boot, 1965 Original Hand Signed Oil Monotype on Japan nacrĂŠ paper 56.5 x 44 cm / 22.2 x 17.3 in 25
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Blue Sky, 1964 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on vellum paper 77 x 57 cm / 30.3 x 22.4 in 26
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Wolf Trap from Daphnis and Chloe, 1961 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in colours on Arches vellum paper 54.1 x 38 cm / 21.3 x 15 in 27
MARC CHAGALL 1887 - 1985 Tribe of Dan, 1964 Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on Arches paper 74.9 x 53.3 cm \ 29.5 x 21 in 28
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Fight of Jacob and the Angel, 1967 Hand Signed, Dedicated and Inscribed Lithograph on Arches vellum paper 76 x 56 cm / 29.9 x 22 in 29
MEDITERRANEAN COLOURS
The warm climate and vivid colours of Nice and the Côte d’Azur captured the heart and imagination of Marc Chagall, who loved the beauty of the Mediterranean. Printed by Charles Sorlier and published by Mourlot in Paris in 1967, Chagall’s Nice and the Cote d’Azur series is comprised of 12 lithographs in colours created to accompany the text written by Jean Adhemar, Director of the Cabinet des Estampes at the Bibliotheque Nationale. Jean Adhemar states that in these works “one rediscovers the characters dear to Chagall: those lovers in the firmament, the woman with the flowers and the Sirene, the most poignant symbol of Nice. There are also those visions, the memory of which pursued him from childhood and from his days in Vitebsk. All this explains the richness of tones in these lithographs, the beauty and harmony of the colours.” Indeed, these lithographs remain some of the most stunning examples of colour and imagery of Chagall’s entire artistic oeuvre.
30
MARC CHAGALL 1887 - 1985 Siren and Fish (from Nice and the Cote d’Azur), 1967 Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on Arches paper 73.3 x 52.6 cm \ 28.8 x 20.7 in 31
MARC CHAGALL 1887 - 1985 Bay of Angels with Bouquet of Roses (from Nice and the Cote d’Azur), 1967 Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on Arches paper 73.3 x 52.6 cm \ 28.8 x 20.7 in 32
MARC CHAGALL 1887 - 1985 Couple with Fish (from Nice and the Cote d’Azur), 1967 Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on Arches paper 73.3 x 52.6 cm \ 28.8 x 20.7 in 33
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 Woman with Bouquet, 1964 Hand Signed and Numbere Lithograph in colours on Arches vellum paper 74.4 x 52.8 cm / 29.2 x 20.7 in 34
MARC CHAGALL 1887 - 1985 The Sunlit Studio, 1974 Original Hand Signed and Inscribed Lithograph in Colours on Arches paper 65 x 49.3 cm / 25.6 x 19.4 in 35
MARC CHAGALL 1887 - 1985 Bouquet with Bird, 1960 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on Arches paper 49.7 x 35 cm \ 19.6 x 13.8 in 36
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 Motherhood, 1954 Hand Signed and Hand Numbered Lithograph on Arches paper Size: 59 x 79 cm / 23.22 x 31.1 in 37
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 Rainbow, 1969 Original Hand Signed and Inscribed Lithograph in colours on Arches paper 92 x 72 cm / 36.2 x 28.3 in 39
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Blue Studio, 1973 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in colours on Japon paper 62.5 x 55 cm / 24.6 x 21.7 in 40
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Magic Flute III, 1972 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on Arches vellum paper 58.2 x 44 cm / 22.9 x 17.3 in 41
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Magic Flute II, 1972 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on Arches vellum paper 59 x 44 cm / 23.2 x 17.3 in 42
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 Anemones, 1974 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithographin colours on Japon paper 53.7 x 40.8 cm / 21.2 x 16.1 in 43
MARC CHAGALL 1887 - 1985 The Song of Songs, 1975 Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on Arches paper 71 x 53.5 cm / 28 x 21.1 in 44
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 Grenade from Paroles Peintes, 1962 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Etching with Aquatint on Richard de Bas paper 38 x 28.3 cm / 14.9 x 11.1 in 45
The CIRCUS
The circus inspired Marc Chagall throughout his life. As a child in Russia, he had been fascinated by the travelling acrobats he saw at village fairs. After he moved to Paris, Ambroise Vollard regularly accompanied him to the circus, where he would sit in the audience and sketch. Circus performers, with their costumes and garish make-up, were ideal characters to populate Chagall’s dream-like compositions. He later said: “For me a circus is a magic show that appears and disappears like a world”.
46
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 On the Track, 1965 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in colours on Arches paper 65.2 x 40 cm / 25.6 x 17.7 in 47
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 My Pierrot, 1969 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph on Arches vellum paper 75.5 x 53.5 cm / 29.7 x 21.1 in 48
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Little Arlequins, 1962 Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph on Arches paper 35.5 x 47cm / 14 x 18.5 in 49
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 Green Acrobat, 1979 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in colours on Arches vellum paper 49 x 37 cm / 19.3 x 14.6 in 50
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 Circus Parade, 1980 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on Arches vellum paper 61.8 x 47.7 cm / 24.3 x 18.8 in 51
Ofer Gildor – Gallery Director Daniela Boi and Veronica Czeisler – Catalogue Text and Concept Costanza Sciascia – Gallery Assistant Design – Karolina Urbaniak
GILDEN’S ARTS GALLERY 74 Heath Street Hampstead London NW3 1DN OPENING TIMES: Mon to Fri: 9:30 -18:30 Sat - Sun: 12:00 - 18:00 Email: info@gildensarts.com Telephone +44 (0)20 7435 3340