Dreams, Whimsy, Poetry: A Celebration of Marc Chagall

A prolific painter and printmaker, for over three quarters of a century Chagall developed a reputation for conjuring the most miraculous, romantic imagery into existence, often against the general current of 20th century art.

Chagall was a key figure amongst the avant-garde Parisian community but, unlike his contemporaries, was never a firm member of any particular movement. Whilst he borrowed ideas from Cubism, Fauvism and Surrealism, he ultimately championed a unique style of narrative art in which his own poetry and deeply personal symbolism took centre stage. His upbringing in Vitebsk collided with the European avant-garde movements that later surrounded him, helping him to develop a profoundly original, distinct aesthetic.
Roosters, fiddlers, trees and floating lovers are just a few of the recurring motifs that occupied Chagall. Through his use of glorious colour, he would masterfully pull together otherwise disparate images. His flora, fauna and colourful characters always culminated in kaleidoscopic dreamscapes that drew upon folkloric imagery and his Jewish identity.

His compositions were so celestial, and his imagination was so often regarded as supernatural, that many likened him to an angel. His wife Bella, one of the artist’s most important muses, said that his eyes were so piercingly blue that he must have come from heaven. Picasso, Chagall’s one-time friend and full-time rival, once declared that Chagall’s imagery was so inventive that he “must have an angel in his head”.

Amongst his most divine works were his prints. Charles Sorlier, a master printmaker at Atelier Mourlot and Chagall’s close friend, lauded his printmaking talent by describing how “it [seemed] as if an angel [had] entered the workshop” whenever Chagall embarked on a new project.
Printmaking was integral to Chagall’s practice and during his lifetime he produced over a thousand lithographs and over five hundred etchings. Ever the perfectionist, each project was a meticulous, painstakingly refined labour of love. Chagall’s artworks are always rich, multi-layered and carefully structured; printmaking was therefore the perfect medium for him, since methods such as lithography require multiple printing plates per image in order to build up layers of composition and colour. Chagall’s jewel-like lithographs could contain up to twenty-five unique colours.

To commemorate Chagall's life we have specially acquired a new collection of some of his most sought-after prints, including a possibly unique, hand-signed example of one of his final lithographs, eleven magical images from a rare 1957 portfolio and a selection of significant exhibition posters.

Chagall famously stated, “when I held a lithographic stone or a copperplate in my hand, I thought I was touching a talisman”. We feel the same way when we hold one of his prints – they each have an undeniably magical pull and our latest acquisitions are no exception.
- Marc Chagall, The Blue Fish, 1957
  £ 1,150.00
- Marc Chagall, The Magician of Paris, 1970
  £ 1,250.00
Click here for our full 'Collectors' Guide to Chagall'