Watercolor, charcoal and pencil
1910
Marc Chagall (French/Russian, 1887-1985)
Signed lower left 'Chagall'
Dated and inscribed in Cyrillic lower right
This work is sold with a photo-certificate from the Comité Marc Chagall
Dimensions: 7 3/4 x 11 1/4 in. (19.7 x 28.6 cm.)
Provenance: Pinkus Collection, Los Angeles
Exhibited: Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Marc Chagall, oeuvres su papier, June – October 1984
Literature: F. Meyer, Marc Chagall: Life and Work, New York, 1964, cat. 177
Sold: Kornfeld Galerie & Cie., Switzerland, June 16, 2006, Lot 41

Marc Chagall is regarded as a giant of 20th century modernism, an artist whose distinctive style captured the imagination of a worldwide audience. His long and successful career largely spent in France and America left a legacy of well over a thousand oils, printed and graphic work. It is no surprise that his major oils of the 30s, 40s 50s and 60s, along with his famous public commissions (Metropolitan Opera, Opera Garnier) have dominated the literature and scholarship. Yet, it is only in more recent decades that scholars and curators have carried out a deeper investigation of the early years in his native Russia prior to his departure for Paris in 1911. His footprints travel as far as the Russian capital city and shine light on a formative period and the crucial events and influences that would set the stage for his future path.

Chagall once remarked “Why do I always paint Vitebsk? With these pictures I create my own reality for myself, I recreate my home.” (Marc Chagall, My Life, Moscow, 1994, p.166).

Growing up in a small town of Vitebsk in a close-knit Jewish community, Chagall was the eldest in a family of nine siblings. Although he would seek more serious artistic instruction in St. Petersburg, he would return to Vitebsk multiple times. No matter how far Chagall’s travels would take him later in life, his art remained firmly grounded in subjects relating back to his roots in Russia: family, homeland and faith. These powerful memories channeled some of the most emotional expressions on canvas and paper throughout his career. Although the color charged canvases of lovers and dreamscapes over his village were to showcase later in his career, the Russian period reveal crucial clues to the genesis of his style.

La Soeur Anna depicts the artist’s second eldest sister Anuita and dates from 1910 an important year in the year artist’s life. It is known that in the early months of 1910 Chagall was resident in St. Petersburg studying at the Zvanteseva Academy run by Leon Bakst. Under Bakst, Chagall was first exposed to French contemporary art, the Impressionists and the newer voices of the avant-garde. He also assisted his professor in the design of stage sets for theBallets Russes. In the present drawing, Anna is portrayed silently working in her kitchen, yet the composition is dynamic. Chagall spontaneously crops the picture plane and margins to draw the viewer into the scene, heightening the immediacy, a common pictorial devise of the Impressionists doubt influenced by the interiors of Edouard Vuillard. The color notes written on the various objects also belie a common technique of mapping out stage sets. He shows a surprising command of gouache and the scene shows balance and fluency for a young artist still finding his identity.

Another key moment for Chagall in the same year was meeting his future wife Bella Rosenfeld on a visit back home. All hope of stability was lost when his professor and close mentor Leon Bakst left for Paris in the spring of 1910. Chagall knew his destiny was to be in Paris and one year later he later followed other Russians to the French capital. From that point on his art would undergo radical, sweeping changes, his figures literally taking flight and his color palette exploding in front of our eyes.

Laid to Linen; Hinged to mat in lower left, upper left and upper right corners; Gold paint along all edges possibly artist intent; Pin hole in figure’s upper back and in lower right corner; Varying levels of toning along edges of linen backing, appearing a greenish tone along outer most ¼ inch in right and lower edge, no toning within 1 inch of image.