Marc Chagall

The artist
with The Gallery of Jewish Art, New York, 1945
Acquired from the above by Max Cottin
Thence by descent to Jack Cottin, son of the above, and his wife Lillian Cottin

New York, Gallery of Jewish Art, Inc., Opening Exhibition, May 2-June 15, 1945, no. 1 in the Synagogue Series, titled Yemenite Synagogue in Jerusalem

Franz Meyer, Marc Chagall, London, 1964, no. 584, illustrated and titled Dans la Synogogue
Martin Weyl, 'Chagall's Interior of a Synagogue in Safed', The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1992, pp. 23-30, no. 4, illustrated p. 27
Ziva Amishai-Maisels, 'Chagall in the Holy Land', The Real and Ideal Jerusalem in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Art; Studies in Honor of Bezalel Narkiss on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday, The Journal of Jewish Art, vol. 23/24, Jerusalem: Hebrew University, Center for Jewish Art, 1998, pp. 513-542

The canvas is unlined and is pulling slightly along the upper edge and at the upper corners. The work has recently been lightly cleaned. The picture surface is in generally excellent condition. Under UV, there are no signs of inpainting.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Property from the Collection of Lillian and Jack Cottin, New York (lots 13 – 22)

Sotheby's is honored to present this group of paintings by Chagall, Moyse and other Jewish artists from the Collection of Lillian and Jack Cottin.

The quest to decode the mystery of three long-forgotten Chagall paintings was a fascinating journey into a little known aspect of his oeuvre. A tantalizing clue to the significance of the paintings was found in a small cache of letters between Chagall and Max Cottin, the father of Jack Cottin, who purchased the paintings at the Gallery of Jewish Art, New York in 1945. The artist clearly cared very deeply for these works. The letters, written in the 1960s and 1970s, contain repeated requests for images. A final letter stated that the artist may want to buy back the paintings, or would consider an exchange; the request was poignantly but firmly declined. In all, only six  finished oils of synagogue interiors by Chagall are known. These three are now available to the public for the first time in 66 years.

Copies of the correspondence relating to the Chagall paintings will be provided to the purchasers of these lots.

Sotheby's thanks Dr. Ziva Amishai-Maisels for her essay Chagall's Synagogue "Portraits" (p. 18-19) and her assistance with the cataloguing of these lots.


The little-known Yemenite HaGoral Synagogue is located in the neighborhood of the Machne Yehudah market, Jerusalem, through a maze of winding pedestrian streets, impassable to motor traffic.  

The synagogue is still in use and contains the beautiful carved tripartite Ark and wooden reader's desk which were so lovingly rendered in Chagall's painting in 1931. Other details, including the arched window with scrolling bars to the right of the Ark, are easily recognizable. No photographs of the interior of the synagogue are known to have been published.