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8/6/2019 Chagall Sketch Book PR May11
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This remarkably intact sketchbook was used by Marc Chagall from the 1940s to the 1960s, and includes a wide
variety of subjects central to his œuvre. The sketchbook abounds in portraits
of Bella and self-portraits of the artist. These include a very beautiful ink-and-
wash portrait of Bella in a patterned dress with a bowl of fruit. There are
two sensitive portrait heads in pencil, one with closed eyes, the other with
open eyes surrounded by dark circles; both drawings possibly depict Bella's
final illness. Chagall himself appears in several fine self-portraits, in one as a
brightly colored satyr with palette and brushes (pictured below left). In
another, he appears as a drinker, seated next to a bottle labeled with his own
initials. In perhaps the most moving of the self-portraits, the artist with a blue
head and hand on his heart is seated at his easel, contemplating a red
painting of himself and Bella (pictured left). The couple appear together in one drawing as artist and model,
elsewhere as an elongated bridal pair; in yet another drawing they float in the sky with a crescent moon, a chicken,
and a violin-playing donkey – some of the artist’s most iconic imagery.
The bountiful religious imagery in the sketchbook is both Jewish and Christian,
with a series of portraits of King David being the most notable. In one very fine
drawing, David, crowned and with his harp, and a fiddler in a peasant's cap flank a
cluster of village huts (pictured right). Sotheby’s recently sold a striking painting
of King David between the two towns close to the artist’s heart – his native Vitebskand Saint Paul-de-Vence – for $4.2 million. In another striking ink sketch, a
Crucifixion rises up behind a solemn Moses, who holds the tablets of the Ten
Commandments. In another drawing, an angel bearing a menorah flies across the
page.
The sketchbook is equally rich in other themes that recurred throughout
Chagall's long career. The artist's birthplace, Vitebsk, is a constant presence. In
one drawing, a rabbi holds a Torah labeled "Vitebsk" at the scroll's edge. In an
unusual and elegant red-and-black drawing, an elongated peasant woman
balances a sheaf of wheat on her head as she walks what appears to be a dog on
a leash. Peasants, the wooden huts and fences of the shtetl, cows and chickens
all make appearances. In a revealing image, a bass player, whose instrument
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doubles as a bare-breasted woman, flies over the moon, while below an earthbound peasant, seen in
profile, reveals the dusty wooden huts of Vitebsk lodged in his head. Small marginal sketches throughout the
collection include delightful creatures such as a walking bass fiddle with a
flowing mane of hair in the shape of a violin. Chagall's mysterious winged
grandfather clock is depicted several times. Also of interest are several
heads with transposed features, looking back to the artist's celebrated
"Half-Past Three (The Poet)" (1911), now in the Philadelphia Museum of
Art.
Of the drawings of circus performers, many in blue pencil, the artist has
labeled two "Comedie del art. Marc Chagall." There are also a number of
Mediterranean land-and seascapes, including harbor scenes, sailboats and a
figure fishing at the water’s edge. These were most likely done near the
artist’s home at Saint-Paul-de-Vence, in the South of France, or possibly in Israel, which he visited in order
to oversee several important commissions. In fact, the few existing Chagall sketchbooks seem to be related
directly to specific projects, such as his important stained glass window commissions. None has the range of iconic
imagery so central to the artist's work, or the emotional elements as shown here.
Intact sketchbooks such as this are extremely rare, as many have been disbound . The artist gave five to the Israel
Museum but none have appeared at auction, and this is the only one known that is left in private hands.
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*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium