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Lot Essay
The theme of the circus, with its bright lights and colors, where the real and imaginary form so perfect a union, is nothing less than fundamental to the work of Marc Chagall. In Cirque Chagall himself writes the text accompanying the lithographs and the two combine in the most personal of all Chagall's books.
Chagall's circus prints are almost all filled with brilliant color or exuberant activity, and stand out among his subjects as being especially joyous and life-affirming. Nevertheless, the artist's experience of the circus was introspective and tinged with melancholy, as he reminisced in 1967:
For me a circus is a magic show that appears and disappears like a world. A circus is disturbing. It is profound.
These clowns, bareback riders and acrobats have 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 colors and make-up, I can dream of painting new psychic distortions.
It is a magic word, circus, a timeless dancing game where tears and smiles, the play of arms and legs take the form of a great art.... I have always thought of clowns, acrobats and actors as tragically human beings who, for me, are like characters in certain religious paintings. (from "The Circus," in J. Baal-Teshuva, ed., Chagall: A Retrospective, New York, 1995, pp. 196-198)
Chagall's circus prints are almost all filled with brilliant color or exuberant activity, and stand out among his subjects as being especially joyous and life-affirming. Nevertheless, the artist's experience of the circus was introspective and tinged with melancholy, as he reminisced in 1967:
For me a circus is a magic show that appears and disappears like a world. A circus is disturbing. It is profound.
These clowns, bareback riders and acrobats have 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 colors and make-up, I can dream of painting new psychic distortions.
It is a magic word, circus, a timeless dancing game where tears and smiles, the play of arms and legs take the form of a great art.... I have always thought of clowns, acrobats and actors as tragically human beings who, for me, are like characters in certain religious paintings. (from "The Circus," in J. Baal-Teshuva, ed., Chagall: A Retrospective, New York, 1995, pp. 196-198)