Page 3 Marc Chagall Art for Sale: Prints & Originals

Marc
Chagall

With a style that refuses categorisation, Marc Chagall is an artist of the fantastically odd and the jack-of-all-trades in the art world. If you’re looking for original Chagall prints and editions for sale or would like to sell, request a complimentary valuation and browse our network’s most in-demand works.

Biography

A key figure of 20th-century art, Marc Chagall worked across multiple mediums, including painting, illustration and costume design. While Chagall’s work is associated with several major artistic currents, from Cubism to Symbolism, and even Fauvism, the artist never adhered to just one style, creating a defining aesthetic that is entirely his own.

Born in Vitebsk, Belorussia, in 1887, Chagall enjoyed drawing since a young age and went on to study painting in the studio of realist portrait painter Jehuda Pen. In 1907, he moved to St Petersburg to study at the Imperial Society for the Protection of Fine Arts for three years, before studying with Léon Bakst at the Svanseva School.

During Chagall’s time there, the motif of the roof violinist began to emerge in his works, particularly in The Dead Man (1908). A year later, Chagall painted My Fiancée With Black Gloves (1909) and began a series of works inspired by his wife-to-be, Bella Rosenfeld, in his signature unrealistic style.

Chagall’s art was defined by his twelve-year stay in Paris, beginning in 1910, which also shaped the style he would adopt for the rest of his career, with dreamlike scenes, up-turned figures, seemingly random composition, and thinly-spread colours.

The subjects of his paintings became Jewish folklore and Russian fairy tales, often with Chagall himself as the central character. These pieces are recognised as some of Chagall’s greatest works, including Self-Portrait With Seven Fingers (1912), Hommage À Apollinaire (1912), and Paris Through The Window (1913).

Chagall’s first solo exhibition was at the Der Sturm Gallery in Berlin in 1914; but, his work had previously been exhibited at the annual Paris Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d’Automne in the twelve months before. His work struck a chord with the German Expressionist crowd at the time, which sent Chagall on his way to success.

Chagall’s critical acclaim and popularity only increased as his career progressed. In the decades that followed, as he navigated the religious and military conflict in Germany and traversed from paintings to theatre set design, engraving, and stained-glass, he continued to be celebrated by galleries across the world.

1973 saw the opening of the Museum of the Marc Chagall Biblical Message in Nice, and, four years later, in 1977, a retrospective was held at the Louvre. In the same year, Chagall was awarded the Grand Medal of the Legion of Honour in France. Today, Chagall's popularity is higher than ever, and the artist remains considered one of the main exponents of Modern Art.

When Chagall moved to Paris in 1910, he found his way into La Ruche, a studio for Bohemian artists, where he met the likes of Chaim Soutine, Robert Delaunay, Fernand Léger, Amedeo Modigliani, and poet Guillaume Apollinaire, among others. The painterly styles of this group spanned from Expressionism to Cubism, each encouraging a brave use of colour, shape, and interpretation in the others. Chagall used this time to practice the illogical depictions that are now synonymous with his style. Immersed in the vibrancy of art in Paris, Chagall visited museums and galleries that exhibited Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and Fauvist paintings, which prompted his experimentation with brighter, bolder colours.
Chagall’s early career saw him flit between Vitebsk, Berlin, and Paris, in line with the rising conflicts in Germany. Though Chagall avoided military service, he was enthusiastically invested in the Russian Revolution of 1917. He was installed as Commissar of Fine Arts in Vitebsk, giving him a platform to launch projects for the local art academy and museum.
As part of the Nazi regime, Chagall’s work was removed from all German museums. Paintings were either burned or exhibited in a show of ‘degenerate art’ in Munich in 1937, and most of his work from the Der Sturm exhibition was quickly lost. Chagall fled to the Loire Valley, and then to Marseilles, before he sought refuge in New York after his name was added to the Museum of Modern Art’s list of artists deemed most at risk.
Chagall’s romantic and familial life was turbulent and, at times, full of sorrow. His first wife, and mother to daughter Ida, Bella Rosenfeld, died in 1944 after a marriage of 29 years. During his time in New York, he met and fathered his son, David, with English artist, Virginia McNeil, in 1946. But, in 1952, he married Valentina Brodsky, who became a strict and motivating artistic manager.
He died in France in 1985 as one of the 20th century’s most celebrated and innovative artists.
Chagall’s later work saw him focus on set design, a skill he had nurtured during a brief spell in Moscow. He produced the backdrops and costumes for ballets such as Aleko (1942), Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird (1945), and Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
In 1948, Chagall moved back to France. The work he produced in Paris saw his subjects change from war-stricken scenes to affectionate images of the French capital and portraits of his new love, Valentina. He also produced several projects for the Paris Opéra.
In the late 1950s, Chagall began working with stained glass. Some of his most prestigious works include windows for the Saint-Etienne Cathedral of Metz (1958), the United Nations Building in New York (1961), and the ceiling of the Paris Opéra (1964). Strong artistic works in their own right, these windows still feature all the colours and magical imagery of his earlier works.