Lot Essay
Chagall went to Mexico in the summer of 1942 to design sets and costumes for the American Ballet Theater production of Aleko, whose premiere was to be given in Mexico City. During this busy period he was able to take only brief excursions into the countryside, but managed to make many sketches that were the basis of a later series of gouaches.
These works reveal his deep sympathy with Mexico and Mexicans. He felt attached to their ardent, generous nature and was pleased at their feeling for art and their response to his own work. It is these people we see in the gouaches. But the Mexican spirit, apart from this folklore, is expressed in the close kinship of man and beast, an old basic theme of Chagall's art. (F. Meyer, op. cit., p. 440)
These works reveal his deep sympathy with Mexico and Mexicans. He felt attached to their ardent, generous nature and was pleased at their feeling for art and their response to his own work. It is these people we see in the gouaches. But the Mexican spirit, apart from this folklore, is expressed in the close kinship of man and beast, an old basic theme of Chagall's art. (F. Meyer, op. cit., p. 440)