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FROM RUSSIA TO PARIS: My Life in drawings By Valérie Didier Painter, draughtsman, poet, sculptor, ceramicist, book illustrator; mosaic, tapestry and costume designer, Marc Chagall's prolific production encompasses more than 10,000 works over seventy-five years of artistic career. The following ensemble of seventy drawings by Chagall, spanning over sixty years of his career, offers a privileged insight into the vital and enigmatic world of the Russian artist. Christie's is honoured to offer this large and varied group of drawings, which is the most important and comprehensive collection of works on paper by Chagall ever to come on the market. These seventy drawings all have an exceptional provenance - they come from the personal collection of David McNeil, the son of Chagall and Virginia Haggard McNeil, who was the artist's companion after the death of his wife Bella in 1944, prior to his second marriage, to Valentina Brodsky ('Vava'), in 1952. Chagall's drawings oeuvre is more intimate and personal than his paintings, and is perhaps less well known, mainly because the artist's reputation rests primarily on his mastery of vibrant colour and on the creation of monumental public projects. Some critics even claimed that Chagall drew badly, to which he replied, unfazed, 'Of course I draw badly (...) I like drawing badly'. He did not follow the conventions of aesthetic quality but rather the expression of his inner soul through his lyrical lines and poetic subjects. Chagall claimed that 'Painting should never become a job', by which he meant, as Franz Meyer - the artist's son-in-law and most important monographer - has explained, that all real art is the fruit of a vital urge; it is conditioned by life at every instant and reacts in turn to life' (in Marc Chagall: Life and Work, New York, 1963, p. 11). If Chagall was being overly modest with his skills as a draughtsman, Abraham Efross, Chagall's first biographer, recognised the importance of drawing as a crucial new means of expression for the artist. 'Chagall's black-and-white art', he wrote, 'is even denser, more saturated and more forceful than his painting (...). In his graphic work, the stormy dynamism of his art reveals itself to us untrammelled. Black shreds, black specks, black patterns, black fragments of figures and objects, stiff and incredibly twisted, surprise the spectator, drag him into their vortex, and carry him along' (quoted in ibid, pp. 222 & 224). As a child, Chagall was a poor student in school except in geometry and drawing, in which he foresaw the role of graphic art for his future career. He describes in his autobiographical book My Life published in Paris, 1931, 'Lines, angles, triangles, squares carried me far away to enchanting horizons. And during those hours of drawing I only lacked a throne. I was the centre of the class, the object of attention and an example to all' (quoted in ibid, p. 41). According to Meyer, one of the first drawings Chagall executed on his own was a portrait of the composer Anton Rubinstein. A friend of the young man saw some of these early drawings and exclaimed, 'You're a real artist, aren't you?'. This comment induced the initial feelings of Chagall's self-awareness as an artist, and suggested the possibility of a career that he would actively pursue. Chagall's worldwide reputation had its humble roots in the provincial Byelorusssian town of Vitebsk, where Chagall was born in 1887. Rare are the drawings dating from his time at Jehuda Pen and Léon Bakst's art schools, yet a few exquisite examples have survived in the present collection (lots 571, 583, 587 & 589). His early drawings of his hometown Vitebsk, as well as his sketches of its inhabitants and their activities, are particularly well represented with Gendarmes russes (lot 568), Les bûcherons (lot 570) and Les salaisons (lot 572). From Vitebsk, Chagall's artistic journey continued, starting with his first trip to Paris in 1910, his subsequent return to Russia, where he worked in St. Petersburg, Vitebsk, Moscow and Berlin, and in 1923, his second trip to France, which thereafter became his adoptive country. The contents of this catalogue trace this progression through time and place, following Chagall's development through the many stages of his multi-facetted career. The selection herein of several self-portraits (lots 567, 579, 584, 614, 620 & 630), each very different from the other, illustrates Chagall's complex character, a man 'full of contradictions - generous and guarded, naïve and shrewd, explosive and secret, humorous and sad, vulnerable and strong', as portrayed by Virginia McNeil (J.A. Harriss, 'The Elusive Chagall' in Smithsonian Magazine, Washington D.C., 2004). Probably the most intimate works in Chagall's oeuvre which stand out in this collection are the portraits of his family, such as the striking drawings of his younger brother, David, and those of Bella, his beautiful muse, fiancée, adored wife and the great love of his life (lots 581 & 591). This selection of preparatory sketches for monumental paintings are illuminating examples of Chagall's working procedure and of how his masterpieces evolved from carefully thought-out ideas. Chagall's talent as an artist-craftsman can be admired in the originality of his costume and ceramic designs in the present collection (lots 596, 605-612). His mastery of the art of book illustration is glowingly apparent in his preparatory drawings for etchings and lithograph series, such as the Arabian Nights (lots 624 & 625). The extraordinary scope of this collection of seventy drawings covers all of Chagall's major themes - the joy of love, the pleasures of the circus, the magnificence of animals, his profound nostalgia for provincial Russian life and his Jewish roots. These are the essential and unforgettable experiences that inspired Chagall's legendary dream world. All these elements have been treated as symbols which art historians attempt to decrypt, but as Jean-Michel Foray (Director of the Marc Chagall Biblical Message Museum in Nice) points out, 'there's no consensus on what these symbols mean. We cannot interpret them because they are simply part of his world, like figures from a dream' (J.M. Foray, exh. cat., Marc Chagall, Paris, Grand Palais & San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2003). Chagall himself admitted he was a dreamer who never woke up, and so Pablo Picasso, when questioning where the Russian artist's fount of mysterious imagery came from, was not wrong in saying that Chagall 'must have an angel in his head'. Whilst this drawings collection is profoundly personal in character, it nonetheless reveals the full extent of Chagall's fruitful encounters with the wide variety of 20th century revolutionary artistic trends, which mainly flourished by turn in Paris, Berlin and Moscow, such as Constructivism, Suprematism, Cubism, Expressionism, and Surrealism (LOTS ). His experiences in the capital of modern art, Paris, enabled him to find his place in the liberal, intellectual and cultural circles of the time and to witness pioneering artistic thoughts, which contributed to the marvellous sense of freedom that came to characterise his search for a personal and communicative voice in his art. Inspired by the artistic flames lit by Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Amadeo Modigliani, Natalia Gontcharova, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Kazimir Malevitch and many more, Chagall was eclectic in his tastes and sources. He drew inspiration only from the most select aspects of his fellow artists' work and when doing so, he followed a purely spontaneous and instinctual need, ensuring that his ultimate voice was always personal and unique; his work contains few, if any, signs of derivativeness. This perhaps explains why Chagall is difficult to approach in the context of art history, because he can not be 'pigeonholed' or categorised under one '-ism' label. Even more remarkable, and occasionally controversial, is Chagall's upstream direction amidst the powerful flood of contemporary artistic currents. He strove to restore to the experience of art some fundamental elements which modern artists rejected such as allegory and narrative: Chagall chooses to make art as a comment on life, as it was lived in his century, and as it grew out of our mythic past. Through these seventy extraordinary drawings, each of which is an integral piece in the overall picture of Chagall's fascinating artistic jigsaw puzzle, the viewer is given direct access to the artist's dream world, enabling a greater understanding of the stylistic and thematic diversity of his oeuvre. Each drawing in this collection may be enjoyed for its own particular character and qualities, and one may easily behold and appreciate the process by which Chagall created such wondrous images. David McNeil was fascinated with his father's ingenuous graphic talent as he recalls in his memoir published in 2002, 'He prepared his charcoal pencils, holding them in his hand like a little bouquet. Then he would sit in a large straw chair and look at the blank canvas or cardboard or sheet of paper, waiting for the idea to come. Suddenly he would raise the charcoal with his thumb and, very fast, start tracing straight lines, ovals, lozenges, finding an aesthetic structure in the incoherence. A clown would appear, a juggler, a horse, a violinist, spectators, as if by magic. When the outline was in place, he would back off and sit down, exhausted like a boxer at the end of a round' (J.A. Harriss, ibid, 2004). The present seventy works on paper each have photo-certificates from David McNeil. In his book Chagall, Disegni inediti dalla Russia a Parigi (Milan, 1989), V. Rakitin revised some of the dates and details suggested by David McNeil. Indeed, several drawings appear to have been signed and dated later than the date of execution of the work itself. This can be explained by the fact that these drawings remained in the artist's estate up until the late 1980s, and were inherited by Mr. McNeil, from whom it was acquired by the present owners. This collection is more than just a journey with Chagall through his artistic quest and life from Russia to Paris. In his autobiography My Life, Chagall expressed the hope that 'Perhaps Europe will love me and, with her, my Russia' (p. 171). The drawings that follow in this catalogue possess the many appealing qualities that collectors of Chagall have prized for decades, and which have continued to attract numerous new admirers around the world, in the score of years since his death. Major retrospectives and smaller exhibitions have been dedicated to his work: his hope mentioned above in My Life has surely been fulfilled. (fig. 1) Chagall in Berlin, Autumn 1922. Archives Marc et Ida Chagall, Paris; © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2007. (fig. 2) Marc Chagall preparing the mural painting Commedia dell'Arte for the theatre in Frankfurt, with his son David in Vence. Archives Marc et Ida Chagall, Paris; © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2007. (fig. 3) Marc Chagall, Virginia Haggard and their son David, April 1951; © Lipnitzki-Viollet, Paris. (fig. 4) Marc and Bella Chagall in front of Les Fiancés, c. 1939. Archives Marc et Ida Chagall, Paris; © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2007. (fig. 5) David McNeil in front of a portrait of his father and reproductions of Chagall's works, 1959. Archives Marc et Ida Chagall, Paris; © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2007. DIVIDER: (above) Vitebsk, early twentieth century. (below) Chagall, Pen and friends in the yard of the house where Chagall was born, 1918. Archives Marc et Ida Chagall, Paris; © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2007.

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)

Devant la maison natale

Details

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Devant la maison natale
signed and dated 'Chagall 1908' (lower right)
pen and India ink on paper
6¼ x 5 7/8 in. (16 x 14.8 cm.)
Executed in 1908

Provenance

David McNeil (the artist's son), Paris, by descent from the artist (no. D.850)
Acquired from the above by the present owners in 1987.

Literature

M. Chagall, My Life, (translated by Peter Owen), London, 1965 (ill. p. 9).
V. Rakitin, Chagall, Disegni inediti dalla Russia a Parigi, Milan, 1989, p. 28 (ill. p. 29).

Exhibited

Milan, Studio Marconi, Marc Chagall, Disegni inediti dalla Russia a Parigi, May - July 1988; this exhibition later travelled to Turin, Galleria della Sindone, Palazzo Reale, Dec. 1990 - Mar. 1991; Catania, Monastero dei Benedettini, Oct.- Nov. 1994; Meina, Museo e centro studi per il disegno, June - Aug. 1996.
Hannover, Sprengel Museum, Marc Chagall, "Himmel und Erde", Dec. 1996 - Feb. 1997.
Darmstadt, Institut Mathildenhöh, Marc Chagall, Von Russland nach Paris, Zeichnungen 1906-1967, Dec. 1997 - Jan. 1998.
Abbazia Olivetana, Fondazione Ambrosetti, Marc Chagall, Il messaggio biblico, May - July 1998, p. 20 (ill.).
Klagenfurt, Stadtgalerie, Marc Chagall, Feb.- May 2000, p. 35 (ill.).
Florida, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Chagall, Jan.- Mar. 2002.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

This work is sold with a photo-certificate from David McNeil.

In the present drawing, Chagall draws himself in front of the house where he was born and which he remembers as 'the lump on the head of the rabbi in green whom I painted, or a potato thrown into a barrel of herrings and soaked in the brine' (My Life, p. 10). This house was situated in Pestkovatik, just on the outskirts of Vitebsk, which can be seen in the background, recognisable by the iconic orthodox church. The young artist deliberately depicts himself larger than in reality. His disproportionate scale in comparison with the typical White Russian provincial wooden houses, suggests Chagall's eagerness to assert his origins in Vitebsk, crossing his arms and pointing out to his birthplace behind him.

Devant la maison natale is probably Chagall's most famous drawing as it was the inspirational starting point for his autobiography in My Life, featuring as the first illustration in Chagall's book. Chagall may have also taken the present drawing as a model for the painting of the same title, dated 1914 (M 160; Private collection, Paris; fig. 2). In the latter, Chagall presents us a close-up of the drawing depicting a half-length portrait of himself, thus creating an even more intimate and direct contact with the viewer.

(fig. 1) La maison natale après la guerre. Archives Marc et Ida Chagall, Paris; © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2007.

(fig. 2) Marc Chagall, Autoportrait devant la maison, 1914. Private Collection, Paris; © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2007.

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