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Revere Auctions
Live Auction

January Day 2: Postwar & Contemporary Art

Wed, Jan 25, 2023 11:00AM EST
Lot 594

Marc Chagall "Les Amoreux" Lithograph 1981

Estimate: $5,000 - $7,000

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $25
$300 $50
$1,000 $100
$3,000 $200
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000
$500,000 $25,000
$1,000,000 $50,000
$10,000,000 $100,000
Marc Chagall (Russian/French, 1887-1985). Lithograph on paper titled "Les Amoureaux," depicting a horse, two individuals, an angel, and a child, 1981. Pencil signed along the lower right; numbered 7/50 along the lower left.

Literature: Mourlot, 994.

Lot Essay:
Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal}) was a Russian-French artist of Belarusian Jewish origin. An early modernist, he was associated with several major artistic styles and created works in a wide range of artistic formats, including painting, drawings, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints.

Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century" (though Chagall saw his work as "not the dream of one people but of all humanity"). According to art historian Michael J. Lewis, Chagall was considered to be "the last survivor of the first generation of European modernists". For decades, he "had also been respected as the world's pre-eminent Jewish artist". Using the medium of stained glass, he produced windows for the cathedrals of Reims and Metz, windows for the UN and the Art Institute of Chicago and the Jerusalem Windows in Israel. He also did large-scale paintings, including part of the ceiling of the Paris Opera.

Before World War I, he travelled between Saint Petersburg, Paris, and Berlin. During this period he created his own mixture and style of modern art based on his idea of Eastern Europe and Jewish folk culture. He spent the wartime years in Soviet Belarus, becoming one of the country's most distinguished artists and a member of the modernist avant-garde, founding the Vitebsk Arts College before leaving again for Paris in 1923.

He had two basic reputations, writes Lewis: as a pioneer of modernism and as a major Jewish artist. He experienced modernism's "golden age" in Paris, where "he synthesized the art forms of Cubism, Symbolism, and Fauvism, and the influence of Fauvism gave rise to Surrealism". Yet throughout these phases of his style "he remained most emphatically a Jewish artist, whose work was one long dreamy reverie of life in his native village of Vitebsk." "When Matisse dies," Pablo Picasso remarked in the 1950s, "Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what colour really is."

Sight; height: 17 in x width: 14 in. Framed; height: 24 1/4 in x width: 21 in.

Condition

The item is in great condition with no visible tears, creases, or rips. When inspected under UV light, there is no visible sign of restoration. The paper is very lightly toned. The color is bold and bright. The pencil inscriptions along the lower margin are lightly smudged, which does not affect the overall piece. Framed under plexiglass; not inspected out of frame. Wear to the frame as shown in the listing image. Please contact us for a detailed condition report. Please note that the lack of a condition statement does not imply perfect condition. Email condition@revereauctions.com with any condition questions.

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