Marc Chagall

Perls Gallery, New York
Harriet Griffin Fine Arts, New York
Sale: Sotheby’s, London, March 28, 1984, lot 316
Private Collection

Franz Meyer, Marc Chagall: Life and Works, New York, 1963, no. 438, illustrated n.p.
Susan Compton, Marc Chagall My Life-My Dream, Berlin and Paris, 1922-1940, Munich, 1990, no. 44, illustrated n.p.

In very good condition. Executed on cream color woven paper with a deckled edge. A tiny break in the pigment can be seen in the lower left corner. There is a small scrape in blue pigment next to the figures hand. Small paint loss in the notch of his collar as well as losses in the blue pigment in the figures cap. Hinged with Japanese paper on top and bottom edges. The paint layer is vibrant and fresh in very good condition.
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.

One of the images resulting from Chagall's eight-year exile in Vitebsk, the present work is the product of the rich cultural surroundings that filled his imagination in the 1920s. During this era he produced some of the most personally meaningful compositions of his career, developing the symbolism and imagery to which he would repeatedly return over the next five decades.

In June 1914 Chagall traveled to Berlin to attend the opening of his first one-man show consisting of 40 oils and 160 gouaches at Herwarth Walden's Galerie der Sturm. On June 15 he returned to Vitebsk to attend his sister's wedding. It had been his intention to stay for three months before returning to Paris, but the outbreak of World War I made this impossible and he remained in Russia for the next eight years. Missing the urban energy of Paris and Berlin, Chagall was initially depressed by the provincial atmosphere of Vitebsk, but he soon found that the rich cultural and religious life of his birthplace offered a remarkable range of subject matter for him to explore in his art.

Chagall returned to images of rabbis in Paris around 1924-25 when he painted replicas of some of his most celebrated earlier paintings, including Jour de fête (Le Rabbin au citron) (see fig. 1).