- 136
Marc Chagall
Estimate
600,000 - 800,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- Marc Chagall
- L’Écuyère au cheval blanc
- Stamped Marc Chagall (lower right)
- Oil and pencil on board
- 12 1/8 by 8 in.
- 30.5 by 20.3 cm
Provenance
Vava Chagall, France (by descent from the artist)
Acquired from the estate of the above in 1997
Acquired from the estate of the above in 1997
Exhibited
Roslyn, New York, Nassau County Museum of Art, Picasso and The School of Paris, 2007
Condition
The board is stable. Under UV a small spot of fluorescence to the blue pigment at the upper right part of the horse's head. There are some very minor spots of pigment loss in places to the thick impasto. The surface is rich and this work is in overall 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.
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.
Catalogue Note
For Marc Chagall, the decade of the 1920s was the "happiest time of [his] life" (quoted in Franz Meyer, Marc Chagall, Life and Work, New York, 1957, p. 333). The artist had married his childhood sweetheart Bella in 1915 and they moved to Paris together in 1923 with their young daughter Ida. Chagall declared that he had fallen in love with Bella the moment he first caught sight of her as a young teenager; he would remain so devoted until her untimely death in 1944.
The 1920s thus saw a breathless exuberance in Chagall’s work, full of color and vitality, and often conceived of in images of circus performers. Chagall had visited the circus with his friend and dealer Ambroise Vollard shortly after moving to Paris. The trip resulted in 19 gouaches, all of which bear the title Cirque Vollard, and were succeeded by a second series executed in 1927-28, of which the present work is a striking example. The circus appealed to Chagall for its theatricality and profound sense of illusion:
"For me a circus is a magic show which appears and disappears like a world. A circus is disturbing, it is profound... It is a magic word, circus, a timeless game where tears and smiles, the play of arms and legs take the form of great art... These clowns, bareback riders and acrobats have made themselves at home in my visions. Why? Why am I so touched by their make-up and their grimaces? With them I can move toward new horizons. Lured by their colours and make-up, I dream of painting new psychic distortions... The circus seems to me like the most tragic show on earth... I would like to go up to that bareback rider who has just reappeared, smiling; her dress, a bouquet of flowers. I would circle her with my flowered and unflowered years. On my knees, I would tell her wishes and dreams, not of this world" (Marc Chagall, Le Cirque (exhibition catalogue), Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 1981).
In the present work a skilled equestrian acrobat, like the one Chagall describes, balances confidently on the saddle of a white horse. Her headdress flows in the wind behind her while she bears forth a bouquet of blossoms, perhaps signifying a victory in competition. The acrobat’s arms are outspread as she invites her viewers to partake in the drama and celebration. Lionello Venturi observes how Chagall’s works at this time with ‘their perspective of sentiment, their fantastic forms, suggest that the painter is amusing himself in a freer mood than usual; and the result is eloquent of the unmistakable purity flowing from Chagall's heart" (Lionello Venturi, Marc Chagall, New York, 1945, p. 39).
The 1920s thus saw a breathless exuberance in Chagall’s work, full of color and vitality, and often conceived of in images of circus performers. Chagall had visited the circus with his friend and dealer Ambroise Vollard shortly after moving to Paris. The trip resulted in 19 gouaches, all of which bear the title Cirque Vollard, and were succeeded by a second series executed in 1927-28, of which the present work is a striking example. The circus appealed to Chagall for its theatricality and profound sense of illusion:
"For me a circus is a magic show which appears and disappears like a world. A circus is disturbing, it is profound... It is a magic word, circus, a timeless game where tears and smiles, the play of arms and legs take the form of great art... These clowns, bareback riders and acrobats have made themselves at home in my visions. Why? Why am I so touched by their make-up and their grimaces? With them I can move toward new horizons. Lured by their colours and make-up, I dream of painting new psychic distortions... The circus seems to me like the most tragic show on earth... I would like to go up to that bareback rider who has just reappeared, smiling; her dress, a bouquet of flowers. I would circle her with my flowered and unflowered years. On my knees, I would tell her wishes and dreams, not of this world" (Marc Chagall, Le Cirque (exhibition catalogue), Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 1981).
In the present work a skilled equestrian acrobat, like the one Chagall describes, balances confidently on the saddle of a white horse. Her headdress flows in the wind behind her while she bears forth a bouquet of blossoms, perhaps signifying a victory in competition. The acrobat’s arms are outspread as she invites her viewers to partake in the drama and celebration. Lionello Venturi observes how Chagall’s works at this time with ‘their perspective of sentiment, their fantastic forms, suggest that the painter is amusing himself in a freer mood than usual; and the result is eloquent of the unmistakable purity flowing from Chagall's heart" (Lionello Venturi, Marc Chagall, New York, 1945, p. 39).