Art

Item Description

An exquisite lithograph from 1960 by the eccentric genius Marc Chagall.  Galerie d’Orsay has matted this for the very first time; it is in excellent condition and has never before been framed.  This is from the definitive edition printed in 1960 on wove paper.  Catalog #289, Cramer 43.

The circus was to Marc Chagall what the bullfight was to Pablo Picasso.  It was a great source of inspiration and joy for Chagall.  Here we see the performer dancing before a clown and the audience in the background.  Chagall was as avid a lithographer as he was a painter, and he we see a celebration of life and whimsy in this exuberant offering.

MARC CHAGALL (b. 1887, Russia – d. 1985, France)

At a time when many artists followed the various popular artistic modes (such as Cubism, Dadaism, and Surrealism), Marc Chagall maintained a highly individualistic style that disobeyed all other motifs practiced among his contemporaries.  It is this individualism and commitment to his creative instincts that elevate his enchanting and mystifying compositions to remarkable heights.  Chagall is the master of color and the dream.  He challenges our perceptions, and embarks his viewers on a journey of romance, phantasm and escapism.  His artworks can be found here at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Modern Art (NY), the Tate Modern (England), the Hermitage (Russia) not to mention his spectacular museum in Nice, France.  (See longer bio attached)

"I had to find some special occupation, some kind of work that would not force me to turn away from the sky and the stars, that would allow me to discover the meaning of life." – Marc Chagall

"In our life there is a single color, as on an artist palette which provides the meaning of life and art. It is the color of love." – Marc Chagall

"If all life moves inevitably towards its end, then we must during our own colour it with our colours of love and hope." – Marc Chagall

Item Special Note

The Circus

Lithograph printed in colors on wove paper. 9 1/2 x 12 13/16". 

Volume 1. 1957-1961: 12 original lithographs, 10 of them in colors (Mourlot 281-292; Cramer 44). Volume 2, 1962-68: 12 original lithographs, 7 in colors (Mourlot 577-578; Cramer 56); Volume 3, 1962-68: 2 original color lithographs (Mourlot 577-578: Cramer 77); Volume 4, 1969-73: 2 original color lithographs (Mourlot 729-730; Cramer 94).