Marc Chagall

Kunsthaus Herbert Tannenbaum, Mannheim, 1937-1938
Liebhold Collection, Mannheim
By descent, Private Collection, Australia

Berlin, Der Sturm Gallery of Herwath Walden, solo exhibition, June 1914, No.9
Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, Marc Chagall, 10 October - 20 November 1966, No.1
Frankfurt am Main, Jûdisches Museum, 1 February - 18 April 2004
Berlin, Max Liebermann Haus der Stiftung 'Brandenburger Tor', Chagall und Deutschland, 1 May - 1 August 2004, No.2
Vienna, Kunstforum, , Marc Chagall.Meisterwerke 1908-1922, 15 November 2006 - 18 February 2007

Marc Chagall, exhibition catalogue, Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 1966, No.1
Chagall und Deutschland, exhibition catalogue, Frankfurt and Berlin, 2004, p.22, 180, No. I.1 and II.2 (illustrated), p.184, No.2

Structural Condition The canvas is unlined on a fixed wooden stretcher. There is a label on the reverse, in the upper left as viewed from the reverse. Paint Surface Inspection under ultra-violet light shows a few very small retouchings. These are: 1) a very thin vertical line, approximately 4 cms in length, near and parallel to, the left vertical framing edge, 2) a very thin line, approximately 8 cms in length, in the white pigment of the girl's blouse and a further equally thin line in the red pigment of her scarf, 3) a very thin diagonal line, approximately 5 cms in length in the lower right and a few spots on the girl's face and left cheek. It should be stressed that these retouchings are of minimal size. Summary The painting therefore appears to be in very good and stable condition and no further work is required.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This rare, early work by Marc Chagall was painted in 1909-10, while he was still a student at the Elizaveta Zvantseva school in St. Petersburg, and is one of only a few compositions from this period to have survived. Executed in strong, tonal colours and on the coarse-weave canvas which is typical of the artist's Russian works, it is exemplary of the new confidence which belies Chagall's painting at this seminal point in his artistic development.

 

Although the subjects of much of his early oeuvre are taken from life in the Jewish community of Vitebsk, Chagall's St. Petersburg paintings are characterised by great stylistic experimentation. Classes with the well-travelled and experienced miriskusstniki Leon Bakst and Mstisalv Dobuzhinsky were to have a profound effect on the young artist, who had until then received an essentially provincial artistic training.

"It was with [Bakst] that I saw in reproduction, the first Fauve canvases, the sketches of Van Gogh and of Cézanne. It was there that my ambition to go to Paris was born." (Cited in S.Compton, Chagall, London: Royal Academy, 1985, p.30)

           

Alla relates closely to a series of family portraits painted from 1907-10, and in particular My Sister Manya, from 1909, where objects and sitters are brought close together in the composition to convey an immediacy of perception (figs. 1 and 2). With its strong, bold lines and traditional Russian motifs, Alla should be appreciated context of the Jack of Diamonds group, and in particular, the neo-primitivist movement pioneered by Natalia Goncharova and Ilya Mashkov, who consciously reverted to Russia's folk art in order to create a genuine and direct mode of representation (figs. 3 and 4). This would have no doubt struck a chord with the young Chagall, whose compositions drew heavily on the visual and aural traditions surrounding his Hassidic Jewish upbringing.

 

By 1910, the Parisian avant-garde had made a significant impact in Russia as leading artists had begun exhibiting their work in Moscow and St. Petersburg with the Jack of Diamonds and the Izdebskii salons. These included Braque, Le Fauconnier and Matisse, whose influence on Chagall is palpable in the stylised and all-over, textural treatment of pattern in the offered lot, along with the tight layering of foreground and background (fig.5).

 

Chagall was to leave Russia for Paris shortly after completing Alla. It was in the French capital that the poet and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire came across Chagall's paintings and encouraged leading art dealer, Herwath Walden to visit his studio. Walden was to offer Chagall his first solo show at Der Sturm, his gallery in Berlin, and selected Alla among the works for exhibition.

A certificate of authenticity issued by the Comité Marc Chagall, dated 24 October 2003, accompanies this work.