Marc Chagall

MARC CHAGALL (Belarus, 1887 - France, 1985).
"In the lands of the Gods", 1967.
Color lithograph on Arches paper. Copy S.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
With certificate of authenticity from PARK WEST.
Measurements: 45.5 x 31.5 cm, 65 x 50 cm (paper); 105 x 87 cm (frame).

Marc Chagall was formed in Saint Petersburg, city in which he studied between 1907 and 1910 under the tutelage of Nikolai Roerich. After this period he moved to Paris, where he reached full artistic maturity. He returned to Russia in 1914 and actively participated in the cultural renewal of the country, but his disputes with Malevich and the revolutionary demands of linking political commitment and artistic work would lead him to leave for Germany in 1924. His Jewish condition would later force him to emigrate to France and the United States, finally settling in France at the end of World War II. In 1981 he received the Wolf Foundation Prize for the Arts in Jerusalem, and in 1997 a museum bearing his name was founded in Vitebsk. In all of Chagall's works during all stages of his life, it was his colors that attracted and engaged the viewer's attention. During his early years, his range was limited by his emphasis on form and his pictures never gave the impression of painted drawings. "Colors are a living and integral part of the picture and are never passively flat, or banal as an afterthought. They sculpt and animate the volume of forms ... indulge in flights of fancy and invention that add new colors. perspectives and graduated tones, combined ... His colors do not even attempt to imitate nature, but rather to suggest movement, planes and rhythms Chagall's early life left him with a "powerful visual memory and pictorial intelligence," writes Goodman. After living in France and experiencing the atmosphere of artistic freedom, his "vision took off and created a new reality, one that drew from both his inner and outer worlds." But it was the images and memories of his early years in Belarus that would sustain his art for over 70 years. There are certain elements in his art that have remained permanent and have been seen throughout his career. One of these was his choice of subjects and the way they were portrayed. "The most obvious and constant element is his gift for happiness and his instinctive compassion, which even in the most serious subjects keeps him from dramatization Musicians have been a constant throughout all stages of his work. After marrying for the first time, "lovers sought each other, embraced, caressed, floated through the air, found each other in wreaths of flowers, stretched and tossed as the melodious passage of their vivid daydreams. Acrobats contorted with the grace of exotic flowers at the end of their stems; flowers and foliage abounded everywhere." For him, clowns and acrobats always resembled the figures in religious paintings ... The evolution of circus works ... reflects a gradual tarnishing of his worldview, and the circus performers now gave way to the prophet or sage in his work, a figure into whom Chagall poured his anxiety as Europe darkened, and he could no longer rely on the lumiére-liberté of France for inspiration. He is currently represented in the Guggenheim, MoMA and Metropolitan museums in New York, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the Fukoka Art Museum in Japan, the Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin, the Kunsthaus in Zurich, the Palazzo Ruspoli in Rome, the Stedelijk in Amsterdam, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Albertina in Vienna and the Thyssen-Bornemisza, among many other public and private institutions around the world.