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Lot Essay
This work is sold with a photo-certificate from David McNeil.
This delicately executed drawing of a standing nude wearing a necklace was realised by a mature artist imbued with Parisian avant-garde ideas and aware of German artists whose art he must have seen when he went to Berlin in 1914. Matisse's influence in the refined female figure, as well as in the graphic fluidity and purity, strongly predominate this work. Already in his Nu debout (lot 587) of 1908, and even more in this Nu au collier, Chagall appears to remember Matisse's revolutionary painting of Le Bonheur de Vivre of 1905-1906 (Merion Station, Barnes Foundation), with particular reference to Matisse's standing nude on the far left.
Echoes of Modigliani's caryatids and nudes, and hints from Kirchner's figures also prevail the Nu au collier, proving once again Chagall's awareness of the art he witnessed around him but also pointing out his ability to be observing, yet selective, in order to make a lively nude in his own style.
In comparison with the blue nude (lot 586), Chagall transforms colour and rhythm into line and poetry. Chagall's pencil lines seem to make the female nude dance, as he adds an exotic touch to her features, remembering the art of Gauguin, which he admired so much.
This delicately executed drawing of a standing nude wearing a necklace was realised by a mature artist imbued with Parisian avant-garde ideas and aware of German artists whose art he must have seen when he went to Berlin in 1914. Matisse's influence in the refined female figure, as well as in the graphic fluidity and purity, strongly predominate this work. Already in his Nu debout (lot 587) of 1908, and even more in this Nu au collier, Chagall appears to remember Matisse's revolutionary painting of Le Bonheur de Vivre of 1905-1906 (Merion Station, Barnes Foundation), with particular reference to Matisse's standing nude on the far left.
Echoes of Modigliani's caryatids and nudes, and hints from Kirchner's figures also prevail the Nu au collier, proving once again Chagall's awareness of the art he witnessed around him but also pointing out his ability to be observing, yet selective, in order to make a lively nude in his own style.
In comparison with the blue nude (lot 586), Chagall transforms colour and rhythm into line and poetry. Chagall's pencil lines seem to make the female nude dance, as he adds an exotic touch to her features, remembering the art of Gauguin, which he admired so much.