Marc Chagall

Private Collection, United States
Private Collection, London

Very good condition. Not laid down; affixed to back board periodically along edges. There is a slight buckle to paper due to the nature of the medium and edges are inherently slightly irregular. There is a tiny (1/8 ") partial tear at lower right edge.
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Autour de l'homme à la main verte of 1970-72 vividly conveys  Chagall's imaginative approach to composition and particular enjoyment of the painting process during this period. It portrays a remarkable scene of activity in a topsy-turvy word, dominated by himself as the artist, depicted as l'homme à la main verte, symbolic of fertility. The canvas is divided into two halves - on the right are recurring motives of Chagall's imagery: the artist at different ages and the donkey in a variety of colors.  The left side of the canvas is dominated by bouquets of flowers, symbolic of romance.  Clearly this picture is depicting the fertility and romance that has occurred throughout his life.

It is no coincidence that this work was painted during the same period as Chagall's experimentation with stained glass. This new medium brought around an increasing freedom in his use of color and these experiments bore fruit in the new intensity in his paintings of the late 1960s and 1970s. "Stained glass has allowed Chagall full rein for his pleasure in color. His first experience of the special property of color in this medium was as early as 1952, when he visited Chartres and made detailed studies of the medieval windows. As a result, color flooded into his paintings" (Susan Compton, Chagall (exhibition catalogue), Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1985, p. 254). Here he experiments with nearly geometric areas of bright primary pigments used to heighten the range of hues and prevents the fully modeled motifs from advancing out of the picture plane.