🔥 RARE Vintage Old Modern Original MARC CHAGALL Lithograph, Solomon 1956

Description: This is a lovely and expressive RARE Vintage Old Modern Original Marc Chagall Lithograph on paper, titled Solomon, from Marc Chagall's 1956 book, La Bible. This work is matted in an old Cresent board sleeve and has an original label which reads: "Marc Chagall. Russian-French, b. 1887. Solomon. lithograph in colours from MARC CHAGALL: LA BIBLE pub'd Verve, Paris, 1956." This early and authentic Marc Chagall lithograph is priced to sell. Acquired from an old collection in Los Angeles County, California. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks! About the Artist: Marc (Moishe Shagal) Chagall Born: 1887 - Vitebsk, RussiaDied: 1985 - St. Paul de Vence, FranceKnown for: Abstract village peasant theme paintings, public art. Marc Chagall was a man of keen intelligence, a shrewd observer of the contemporary scene, with a great sympathy for human suffering. He was born on July 7, 1887 in Vitebsk, Russia; his original name was Moishe Shagal (Segal), but when he became a foremost member of the Ecole de Paris, he adopted French citizenship and the French spelling of his name. Vitebsk was a good-sized Russian town of over 60,000, not a shtetl. His father supported a wife and eight children as a worker in a herring-pickling plant.Sheltered by the Jewish commandment against graven images, the young Chagall never saw so much as a drawing until, one day, he watched a schoolmate copying a magazine illustration. He was ridiculed for his astonishment, but he began copying and improvising from magazines. Both Chagall's parents reluctantly agreed to let him study with Yehuda Pen, a Jewish artist in Vitebsk. Later, in 1906, they allowed their son to study in St. Petersburg, where he was exposed to Russian Iconography and folk art. At that time, Jews could leave the Pale only for business and employment and were required to carry a permit. Chagall, who was in St. Petersburg without a permit, was imprisoned briefly.His first wife, Bella Rosenfeld, was a product of a rich cultivated and intellectual group of Jews in Vitebsk. Chagall was made commissar for the arts for the area, charged with directing its cultural life and establishing an art school. Russian folklore, peasant life and landscapes persisted in his work all his life. In 1910 a rich patron, a lawyer named Vinaver, staked him to a crucial trip to Paris, where young artists were revolutionizing art. He also sent him a handsome allowance of 125 francs (in those days about $24) each month. Chagall rejected cubism, fauvism and futurism, but remained in Paris. He found a studio near Montparnasse in a famous twelve-sided wooden structure divided into wedge-shaped rooms. Chaim Soutine, a fellow Russian Jew, and Modigliani lived on the same floor. To Chagall's astonishment, he found himself heralded as one of the fathers of surrealism. In 1923, a delegation of Max Ernst, Paul Eluard and Gala (later Salvador Dali's wife) actually knelt before Chagall, begging him to join their ranks. He refused. To understand Chagall's work, it is necessary to know that he was born a Hasidic Jew, heir to mysticism and a world of the spirit, steeped in Jewish lore and reared in the Yiddish language. The Hasidim had a special feeling for animals, which they tried not to overburden. In the mysterious world of Kabbala and fantastic ancient legends of Chagall's youth, the imaginary was as important as the real. His extraordinary use of color also grew out of his dream world; he did not use color realistically, but for emotional effect and to serve the needs of his design. Most of his favorite themes, though superficially light and trivial, mask dark and somber thoughts. The circus he views as a mirror of life; the crucifixion as a tragic theme, used as a parallel to the historic Jewish condition, but he is perhaps best known for the rapturous lovers he painted all his life. His love of music is a theme that runs through his paintings.After a brief period in Berlin, Chagall, Bella and their young daughter, Ida, moved to Paris and in 1937 they assumed French citizenship. When France fell, Chagall accepted an invitation from the Museum of Modern Art to immigrate to the United States. He was arrested and imprisoned in Marseilles for a short time, but was still able to immigrate with his family. The Nazi onslaught caught Chagall in Vichy, France, preoccupied with his work. He was loath to leave; his friend Varian Fry rescued him from a police roundup of Jews in Marseille, and packed him, his family and 3500 lbs. of his art works on board a transatlantic ship. The day before he arrived in New York City, June 23, 1941, the Nazis attacked Russia. The United States provided a wartime haven and a climate of liberty for Chagall. In America he spent the war years designing large backdrops for the Ballet.Bella died suddenly in the United States of a viral infection in September 1944 while summering in upstate New York. He rushed her to a hospital in the Adirondacks, where, hampered by his fragmentary English, they were turned away with the excuse that the hour was too late. The next day she died.He waited for three years after the war before returning to France. With him went a slender married English girl, Virginia Haggard MacNeil; Chagall fell in love with her and they had a son, David. After seven years she ran off with an indigent photographer. It was an immense blow to Chagall's ego, but soon after, he met Valentine Brodsky, a Russian divorcee designing millinery in London (he called her Fava). She cared for him during the days of his immense fame and glory. They returned to France, to a home and studio in rustic Vence. Chagall loved the country and every day walked through the orchards, terraces, etc. before he went to work.Chagall died on March 28, 1985 in the south of France. His heirs negotiated an arrangement with the French state allowing them to pay most of their inheritance taxes in works of art. The heirs owed about $30 million to the French government; roughly $23 million of that amount was deemed payable in artworks. Chagall's daughter, Ida and his widow approved the arrangement.Written and submitted by Jean Ershler Schatz, artist and researcher from Laguna Woods, California.Sources:Hannah Grad Goodman in Homage to Chagall in Hadassah Magazine, June 1985Jack Kroll in Newsweek, April 8, 1985Andrea Jolles in National Jewish Monthly Magazine, May 1985Michael Gibson in ARTnews, September 1988Time Magazine, July 30, 1965 About this Artwork: "Solomon" (The Kings) Solomon was known as the wisest of all Jewish kings. To this day, we speak of a "Solomonic judgment" when we mean an astute and wise decision. In this illustration, Chagall portrayed the King as a guiding light with raised hands. Most probably, he alludes to Solomon's faithful relation to God and his peaceful governmental policy. However, his crown sits slightly skew on his head... despite the Jewish King often being idealised, he was only a feeling being, after all which can be seen in his pomposity, which led him to exploit his people. In the bottom left-hand corner, Chagall insinuates the Tablets of Law, and above them the seven-branched candelabrum, hinting at the fact that Solomon had the first pompous and sumptuous temple of Jerusalem erected.The King is protected by an arc of light spanning over him, with a clear-cut boundary to the top. Maybe Chagall wants to suggest that, despite his power, the King was only a human being and not god-like as the Pharaoh in Egypt was seen at the same time. Especially the purple colouring of the graphic is very eye-catching. It suggests that Solomon's actions were penetrated and determined by God's spirit. Technique:Original lithograph in colours (Mourlot 131)On the reverse: another original lithograph, plain-coloured (M 136)This is N O T a mass-produced reprint (photomechanical reproduction such as offset lithographs or giclée prints) but the original lithograph from Chagall's Bible I, exactly as referenced in Mourlot's catalogue raisonné.Year:1956Sizes:35 x 26 cm - 14 x 10 ¼ in. (sheet)Edition / Paper:One of 6500 unsigned impressions for the book edition on strong velin paper. In addition, 75 pencil-signed and numbered impressions on Arches wove paper were published.Published by:Éditions de la Revue Verve, Tériade, ParisPrinted by:Atelier Mourlot, ParisRemarks:Biblical reference: 1. Kings 8,22In 1956, the French art critic and publisher Tériade brought out a special issue of the legendary art magazine Verve, which was exclusively devoted to one of Marc Chagalls major themes: The Bible. For this outstanding issue, Chagall composed 18 full-page colour lithographs and 12 in black and white. For his "Bible I" Marc Chagall focused on characters from the Old Testament such as the Founding Fathers, the Kings, the Prophets and Angels. Four years later, in 1960, the follow-up issue "Illustrations for The Bible" was published, with another 24 gorgeous color lithographs. Since then, vast numbers of reproductions were put in circulation which are anything but original(!) lithographs.Documentation / References:Cain, Julien, and Mourlot, Fernand. Chagall Lithograph [I], André Sauret, Monte Carlo 1960, pages 149 to 160, numbers 131 and 136

Price: 975 USD

Location: Orange, California

End Time: 2025-01-27T00:29:26.000Z

Shipping Cost: 25 USD