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Lot 37
Marc Chagall(1887-1985)La fête 7 x 5 1/8 in (17.9 x 13.2 cm)
14 November 2017, 17:00 EST
New YorkUS$35,000 - US$45,000
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Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
La fête
signed 'Chagall' (lower right)
red chalk, pen and black ink and watercolor on paper
7 x 5 1/8 in (17.9 x 13.2 cm)
Drawn circa 1930-40
signed 'Chagall' (lower right)
red chalk, pen and black ink and watercolor on paper
7 x 5 1/8 in (17.9 x 13.2 cm)
Drawn circa 1930-40
Footnotes
Provenance
Estate of the artist.
David McNeil, Paris (by descent from the above, inv. no. D 1500).
Private collection (acquired from the above in 1987), sold, Christie's, London, 8 February 2007, lot 622.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.
Exhibited
Milan, Studio Marconi, Marc Chagall, Disegni inediti dalla Russia a Parigi, May-July 1988; later touring to Turin, Galleria della Sindone, Palazzo Reale, December 1990-March 1991; Catania, Monastero dei Benedettini, October-November 1994; Meina, Museo e centro studi per il disegno, June - August 1996.
Hanover, Sprengel Museum, Marc Chagall, "Himmel und Erde", December 1996-February 1997.
Darmstadt, Institut Mathildenhöhe, Marc Chagall, Von Russland nach Paris, Zeichnungen 1906-1967, December 1997-January 1998.
Abbazia Olivetana, Fondazione Ambrosetti, Marc Chagall, Il messaggio biblico, May-July 1998.
Klagenfurt, Stadtgalerie, Marc Chagall, February-May 2000, p. 56 (illustrated).
Florida, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Chagall, January-March 2002.
Literature
V. Rakitin, Chagall, Disegni inediti dalla Russia a Parigi, Milan, 1989, p. 132 (illustrated p. 133).
The Comité Marc Chagall has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
La fête was drawn in the 1930s, as Chagall was engaged in a commission from the dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard to produce a suite of illustrations to the Old Testament. This ambitious project was completed only in 1956, after Vollard's death, and was published the following year by Tériade. On receiving commission in 1930 Chagall sought inspiration by traveling to Israel for two months, and his works during this time focus on his passionate engagement with his Jewish roots, his early life in Vitebsk and his time at cheder (Jewish elementary school). Although the present work doesn't depict a specifically biblical subject, it is rich in Jewish symbolism. Split firmly into two scenes, it represents a feast of celebration. The left-hand side shows a self-portrait of Chagall holding a bouquet, while to the right is a tombstone carved with the Star of David, in front of which a candle has been lit in remembrance. By juxtaposing these two scenes, Chagall celebrates the connection between the living and the eternal, a common thread through his career.