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Lot Essay
This work is sold with a photo-certificate from David McNeil.
In this composition, Chagall chooses to frame the elongated horse by two circus clowns yet the energy with which Chagall represents the horse's jump ironically suggests that the animal itself is more in control and the horse rider is dependant on its movements and balance in order to succeed his performance. The circus world was the perfect setting for Chagall, enabling him to display the most extraordinary shows of his imagination on stage, as he claimed, 'For me the circus is a magic spectacle which passes by like the affairs of the world and melts. There is an unsettling and a profound circus'.
Chagall's understanding of the circus world was probably influenced by his close relationship with animals and his intensive activity within the world of theatre. His passion for the circus goes back to his childhood, when he saw a family of touring acrobats perform 'on our poor road, for three or four spectators'.
In this composition, Chagall chooses to frame the elongated horse by two circus clowns yet the energy with which Chagall represents the horse's jump ironically suggests that the animal itself is more in control and the horse rider is dependant on its movements and balance in order to succeed his performance. The circus world was the perfect setting for Chagall, enabling him to display the most extraordinary shows of his imagination on stage, as he claimed, 'For me the circus is a magic spectacle which passes by like the affairs of the world and melts. There is an unsettling and a profound circus'.
Chagall's understanding of the circus world was probably influenced by his close relationship with animals and his intensive activity within the world of theatre. His passion for the circus goes back to his childhood, when he saw a family of touring acrobats perform 'on our poor road, for three or four spectators'.