.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This work is sold with a photo-certificate from David McNeil.
The present drawing is related to the illustrations of the Bible, which were commissioned to Chagall by the art dealer Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939) in 1930. It was an ambitious project which was finalised only in 1956 and published a year later by Tériade, Vollard's successor on this work. Chagall had a very thorough knowledge of the Bible, having been brought up in a very traditional Jewish family, and having attended the cheder or Jewish elementary school. He was attracted by the spirit and the poetry of the Bible, which became one of the major sources of inspiration throughout his oeuvre. The biblical stories were engraved in his memory as he admits that 'I did not see the Bible, I dreamed it' (M p. 384).
The present work depicts a feast celebration rather than an actual biblical story. Chagall vertically divides the drawing into two, purposely separating the seated human figure and his bouquet from the candle and the tombstone, symbolising death but also eternity. It is this frontier between the human and the eternal which Chagall explored so often in his paintings, and his work with the Bible illustrations gave him the opportunity to find a compromise between these two opposite realms.
The present drawing is related to the illustrations of the Bible, which were commissioned to Chagall by the art dealer Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939) in 1930. It was an ambitious project which was finalised only in 1956 and published a year later by Tériade, Vollard's successor on this work. Chagall had a very thorough knowledge of the Bible, having been brought up in a very traditional Jewish family, and having attended the cheder or Jewish elementary school. He was attracted by the spirit and the poetry of the Bible, which became one of the major sources of inspiration throughout his oeuvre. The biblical stories were engraved in his memory as he admits that 'I did not see the Bible, I dreamed it' (M p. 384).
The present work depicts a feast celebration rather than an actual biblical story. Chagall vertically divides the drawing into two, purposely separating the seated human figure and his bouquet from the candle and the tombstone, symbolising death but also eternity. It is this frontier between the human and the eternal which Chagall explored so often in his paintings, and his work with the Bible illustrations gave him the opportunity to find a compromise between these two opposite realms.