Chagall Sketch Book PR May11

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

Chagall Sketch Book PR May11

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