Lot Essay
In the winter of 1927 Chagall visited Savoie for the first time staying in Chamonix and then later in the villages of les Houches and Bousson. It seems likely that the present gouache was either painted during this visit to the Alps or shortly after it.
Chagall was entranced by the light effects produced in the snowy landscape whether in moonlight or in daytime (cf. the 'open window' pictures of 1928-30, F. Meyer, Marc Chagall, New York, 1989, nos. 517, 518, 520, 521). In the present painting the effect of sparkling light is achieved by an interesting modelling of the paint surface, by attention to colour details in the clothes of the lovers and by an interesting spray technique or spattering of paint across the surface of composition. The dryness of the gouache medium seems to lend itself perfectly to this effect. Another interesting feature of the present painting is the intensity of colour that Chagall was able to generate in this gouache. Discussing the works of the period Susan Compton writes: 'Chagall is best known for his use of colour throughout his life and, in the late 1920s, he made some of his most brilliantly coloured works on paper... He achieved a saturation of colour unrivalled in his contemporary oil paintings' (Marc Chagall, My life - My Dream, Berlin and Paris 1922-1940, Munich, 1990, p. 25).
Chagall's marvellous control of the medium can, in part, be attributed to the fact that he had been working a great deal in gouache in the late 1920s. Encouraged by Vollard, in 1926 Chagall began a project to paint one hundred gouaches to illustrate La Fontaine's Fables. Indeed the fairy-tale quality of these paintings with their frequent allusions to Chagall's early days in Vitebsk clearly have a part to play in the atmosphere and subject of the current painting.
Chagall frequently portrayed himself with his young wife Bella in his studies of lovers. It has been suggested that Chagall may be holding Bella in his arms in the current painting.
Sold with a photo-certificate from Jean-Louis Prat of the Comité Marc Chagall dated le 15 Avril 1991, Paris with the archive no. 91094
Chagall was entranced by the light effects produced in the snowy landscape whether in moonlight or in daytime (cf. the 'open window' pictures of 1928-30, F. Meyer, Marc Chagall, New York, 1989, nos. 517, 518, 520, 521). In the present painting the effect of sparkling light is achieved by an interesting modelling of the paint surface, by attention to colour details in the clothes of the lovers and by an interesting spray technique or spattering of paint across the surface of composition. The dryness of the gouache medium seems to lend itself perfectly to this effect. Another interesting feature of the present painting is the intensity of colour that Chagall was able to generate in this gouache. Discussing the works of the period Susan Compton writes: 'Chagall is best known for his use of colour throughout his life and, in the late 1920s, he made some of his most brilliantly coloured works on paper... He achieved a saturation of colour unrivalled in his contemporary oil paintings' (Marc Chagall, My life - My Dream, Berlin and Paris 1922-1940, Munich, 1990, p. 25).
Chagall's marvellous control of the medium can, in part, be attributed to the fact that he had been working a great deal in gouache in the late 1920s. Encouraged by Vollard, in 1926 Chagall began a project to paint one hundred gouaches to illustrate La Fontaine's Fables. Indeed the fairy-tale quality of these paintings with their frequent allusions to Chagall's early days in Vitebsk clearly have a part to play in the atmosphere and subject of the current painting.
Chagall frequently portrayed himself with his young wife Bella in his studies of lovers. It has been suggested that Chagall may be holding Bella in his arms in the current painting.
Sold with a photo-certificate from Jean-Louis Prat of the Comité Marc Chagall dated le 15 Avril 1991, Paris with the archive no. 91094