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Lot Essay
Sold with a photo-certificate from the Comit Marc Chagall dated Saint-Paul le 1er mars 1990.
In 1927 Chagall completed a series of gouaches for Vollard which became known as the Cirque Vollard series. It was the begining of a lifetime's work on the theme of the circus. For Chagall, the circus was an exciting 'other' world that adhered to its own rules and laws very much like the dream reality he created in his paintings. Indeed it has been suggested that all Chagall's work has a circus-like quality: S. Alexander writes: 'Is he [Chagall] not after all the artist of the perpetual trapeze acts? And long before he tackled the literal subject, what else were his Jews flying over Vitebsk, his levitating lovers, his upside down trees and slanting Eiffel Towers but a metaphysical circus?' (S. Alexander, Marc Chagall, New York, p. 435)
This is certainly true of the present work which includes many of the motifs so recognisable in Chagall's paintings of lovers, marriage and religion; the bouquet of flowers, the violinist and the upside down donkey and clown which appear to be floating in their own ambiguous space. Yet it strongly evokes the sights, sounds and excitement of the circus performance, in the contrast between the brightly painted faces of the performers and flowers and the latent darkness which suggests the waiting audience in the background.
Chagall is quoted as saying: 'For me the circus is a magic show which appears and disappears like a world. A circus is disturbing, it is profound...It is a magic word. The circus is a timeless game where tears and smiles, the play of arms and legs take the form of great art.' (M. Chagall as quoted in Exh. cat., Pierre Matisse Gallery, Marc Chagall, Le Cirque, Painting 1969-70, 1981, p. 26).
In 1927 Chagall completed a series of gouaches for Vollard which became known as the Cirque Vollard series. It was the begining of a lifetime's work on the theme of the circus. For Chagall, the circus was an exciting 'other' world that adhered to its own rules and laws very much like the dream reality he created in his paintings. Indeed it has been suggested that all Chagall's work has a circus-like quality: S. Alexander writes: 'Is he [Chagall] not after all the artist of the perpetual trapeze acts? And long before he tackled the literal subject, what else were his Jews flying over Vitebsk, his levitating lovers, his upside down trees and slanting Eiffel Towers but a metaphysical circus?' (S. Alexander, Marc Chagall, New York, p. 435)
This is certainly true of the present work which includes many of the motifs so recognisable in Chagall's paintings of lovers, marriage and religion; the bouquet of flowers, the violinist and the upside down donkey and clown which appear to be floating in their own ambiguous space. Yet it strongly evokes the sights, sounds and excitement of the circus performance, in the contrast between the brightly painted faces of the performers and flowers and the latent darkness which suggests the waiting audience in the background.
Chagall is quoted as saying: 'For me the circus is a magic show which appears and disappears like a world. A circus is disturbing, it is profound...It is a magic word. The circus is a timeless game where tears and smiles, the play of arms and legs take the form of great art.' (M. Chagall as quoted in Exh. cat., Pierre Matisse Gallery, Marc Chagall, Le Cirque, Painting 1969-70, 1981, p. 26).