Previous image preload Next image preload
Back to catalog
Lot 149
image_0 image_1 image_2 image_3 image_4 image_5 image_6 image_7
Marc Chagall, Tsarist Russia / France (1887 - 1985), Les Femmes et le Secret from Les Fables de la Fontaine, etching and drypoint, 11 1/2"H x 9 1/2"W (sight)
Marc Chagall, Tsarist Russia / France (1887 - 1985), Les Femmes et le Secret from Les Fables de la Fontaine, etching and drypoint, 11 1/2"H x 9 1/2"W (sight)
image_0 image_1 image_2 image_3 image_4 image_5 image_6 image_7
Description:

Marc Chagall
Tsarist Russia / France, (1887 - 1985)
Les Femmes et le Secret from Les Fables de la Fontaine
etching and drypoint
Signed in the plate lower right.

Biography from Anderson Galleries: A Russian Jewish artist associated with several key art movements, he was one of the most successful artists of the twentieth century. He forged a unique career in virtually every artistic medium, including paintings, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints. Chagall's haunting, exuberant, and poetic images have enjoyed universal appeal, and art critic Robert Hughes called him "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."

As a pioneer of modernism and one of the greatest figurative artists of the twentieth century, Marc Chagall achieved fame and fortune, and over the course of a long career created some of the best-known and most-loved paintings of our time.

According to art historian Michael J. Lewis, Chagall was considered to be "the last survivor of the first generation of European modernists." For decades he "had also been respected as the world's preeminent Jewish artist." He also accepted many non-Jewish commissions, including a stained glass for the cathedrals of Reims and Metz, a Dag Hammarskjold memorial at the United Nations, and the great ceiling mural in the Paris Opera.

His most vital work was made on the eve of World War I, when he traveled between St. Petersburg, Paris, and Berlin. During this period he created his own mixture and style of modern art based on his visions of Eastern European Jewish folk culture. He spent his wartime years in Russia, and the October Revolution of 1917 brought Chagall both opportunity and peril.

He was by now one of the Soviet Union's most distinguished artists and a member of the modernist avant-garde. He founded the Vitebsk Arts College, which was considered the most distinguished school of art in the Soviet Union. However, "Chagall was considered a non-person by the Soviets because he was Jewish and a painter whose work did not celebrate the heroics of the Soviet people." As a result, he soon moved to Paris with his wife, never to return.

He was known to have two basic reputations, writes Lewis - as a pioneer of modernism, and as a major Jewish artist. He experienced modernism's golden age in Paris, where "he synthesized the art forms of Cubism, Symbolism, and Fauvism, and the influence of Fauvism gave rise to Surrealism." Yet throughout these phases of his style "he remained most emphatically a Jewish artist, whose work was one long dreamy reverie of life in his native village of Vitebsk."

"When Matisse dies," Pablo Picasso remarked in the 1950s, "Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is."

  • Dimensions: 11 1/2"H x 9 1/2"W (sight)
  • Medium: etching and drypoint

Accepted Forms of Payment:

ACH, American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Money Order / Cashiers Check, Personal Check, Visa, Wire Transfer

Shipping

Professional in house shipping services are available for items. Large and or fragile items will require a third party shipper. Shipping costs will include carrier fees, handling, and insurance. A low bid purchase price does not mean shipping costs will be any less. The size and weight of a package will impact the cost that the carrier charges. Multiple items will impact the cost of handling. Items that are of high value will require more insurance. Contact Ripley Auctions if you would like a shipping estimate before the auction. Some items may require a third-party shipper. Please let the office know if you would like to pick up your winning bid or arrange your own shipping.

August 31, 2023 1:00 PM EDT
Indianapolis, IN, US

Ripley Auctions

You agree to pay a buyer's premium of 25% and any applicable taxes and shipping.

View full terms and conditions

Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $199 $20
$200 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $2,999 $100
$3,000 $4,999 $200
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $29,999 $1,000
$30,000 + $2,500