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Lot Essay
This work is sold with a photo-certificate from David McNeil.
The composition of L'ami des bêtes is related to the painting Clown à l'âne of 1927 (M 496; Private collection, Berverly Hills) yet the subjects are not the same. Here Chagall refers to his childhood memories and intimately reflects his close relationship with animals, whereas in the painting Chagall evokes the circus world. As a child, Chagall played with the animals in the courtyard of his Vitebsk house, particularly with the rooster, goat and donkey, all of which recur in many of his compositions. 'Our little brothers', as the Russian poet Sergej Esenin described animals, would play a central role throughout Chagall's oeuvre, particularly in his prolific series of circus paintings and in the project for the Fables de La Fontaine.
The composition of L'ami des bêtes is related to the painting Clown à l'âne of 1927 (M 496; Private collection, Berverly Hills) yet the subjects are not the same. Here Chagall refers to his childhood memories and intimately reflects his close relationship with animals, whereas in the painting Chagall evokes the circus world. As a child, Chagall played with the animals in the courtyard of his Vitebsk house, particularly with the rooster, goat and donkey, all of which recur in many of his compositions. 'Our little brothers', as the Russian poet Sergej Esenin described animals, would play a central role throughout Chagall's oeuvre, particularly in his prolific series of circus paintings and in the project for the Fables de La Fontaine.