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Chagall was already an established artist by 1923, especially since the art dealer Herwarth Walden had organised Chagall's first one-man show in his gallery Der Sturm, Berlin, in June and July 1914. Walden displayed 160 works of paper and 40 paintings by the Russian artist. During the 8 years Chagall was back in Russia, Walden sold many of his works and made profits which Chagall claimed back in 1923. Upon Walden's refusal to even give the purchasers' names to Chagall, Marc sued Walden until they found a compromise in 1926. Although Chagall did not feel at home in Berlin, he had a good supportive and cultural group of friends amongst which Barchan, Isidor Elyashev who promoted Jewish literature, the engineer and collector Moise Kogan, the wrtier Chaim Bialik and the poet Ludwig Rubiner's widow, Frida (who translated Efross' and Tugendhold's first monograph on Chagall into German). Chagall also met several artists in Berlin such as Georg Grosz, Karl Hofer, Jankel Adler, David Schterenberg, Ludwig Meidner and Alexander Archipenko. At the same time, Chagall's success continued to flourish with his one-man show of 164 works from 1914-1921 at the Galerie Van Diemen in January 1923. Chagall summed up his experience in Berlin observing that 'after the war, Berlin was a kind of caravansary where all those who shuttled between Moscow and the West met. I found the same sort of atmosphere in Montparnasse until 1930 and again in New York between 1943 and 1945. But in Berlin, one felt like living in a dream, sometimes a nightmare' (M p. 316).

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)

L'homme élégant

Details

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
L'homme élégant
signed 'Marc Chagall' (lower right)
pencil, pen and ink on paper
17 5/8 x 11¼ in. (44.8 x 28.5 cm.)
Executed circa 1925

Provenance

David McNeil (the artist's son), Paris, by descent from the artist (no. D 753).
Acquired from the above by the present owners in 1987.

Literature

V. Rakitin, Chagall, Disegni inediti dalla Russia a Parigi, Milan, 1989, p. 82 (ill. p. 83).

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 Mathildenhöhe, 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.
Klagenfurt, Stadtgalerie, Marc Chagall, Feb.- May 2000, p. 45 (ill.).
Florida, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Chagall, Jan.- March 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 Rakitin's opinion, Chagall may have executed this sketch just before leaving Berlin in 1923 or on his second arrival in Paris. Chagall focuses on the individuality of the man, seeking to capture every feature by experimenting with different angles of the face on the same sheet of paper. The sitter is probably a member of Chagall's circle, whom the artist would have drawn during one of his visits to some friend's house.

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