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MARC CHAGALL(1887-1985)Esquisse pour la lithographie M. 342, Les fleurs saccagées (Daphnis et Chloé, 1961)
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MARC CHAGALL (1887-1985)
inscribed in Russian (on the reverse)
gouache, watercolour and pen and India ink on paper
21.4 x 17.6cm (8 7/16 x 6 15/16in).
Executed circa 1956-1961
Footnotes
The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Comité Marc Chagall.
Provenance
Tériade Collection, Paris and Greece.
Private collection, Greece (a gift from the above).
The present work is a preparatory study for a lithograph from Marc Chagall's iconic series Daphnis et Chloé, made in collaboration with the Ateliers Mourlot and published by Tériade Editeur, Paris. With vibrant imagery and hypnotic colours, Chagall illustrated the ancient Greek poet Longus' timeless pastoral romance with his trademark whimsical vivacity. The loose brushwork and evocative palette of the present work grant it a dreamlike impression and invoke the verdant, sunny environs of its Mediterranean setting. Chagall scrawled notes in Russian on the reverse, translating to 'green gold blue black purple', as he mused over the ink colours for the final composition.
Three years prior to Tériade's commission for the lithographic illustrations, Chagall had designed the sets and costumes for Maurice Ravel's symphonic adaptation of Daphnis et Chloé for the Paris Opera. In the famous story, the shepherdess Chloé and the goatherd Daphnis overcome a series of obstacles, including abduction by pirates and interference from the gods, eventually coming together in marriage and enjoying their bucolic lives on the Isle of Lesbos. Scholars assume the author, Longus, to have also lived on the Isle of Lesbos. Fittingly, the present work was gifted to the current owners by their close friend Tériade (Stratis Eleftheriades) who grew up nearby on the very same island.
