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Lot Essay
The Comité Marc Chagall has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
In December 1924, shortly before leaving for New York, the young Pierre Matisse arranged for Marc Chagall's first solo exhibition in France at the Galerie Barbazanges-Hodebert. In 1927, the notable art critic Maurice Raynal included Chagall in his laudatory monograph, Modern French Painters. Despite this favor and recognition from his adopted country, Chagall still found himself caught between his Russian past and French present. His contemporary projects for dealer Ambroise Vollard reflect this "identity crisis"--his first illustrations in 1925 were for countryman Nikolai Gogol's novel Dead Souls, his next, in 1926, for Frenchman Jean de La Fontaine's classic 17th century Fables. The latter commission, however, was not without controversy. Nativist critics objected to the "Russian" painter interpreting the beloved French text and compelled Vollard to defend the choice in an article in L'Intransigéant: "'Why Chagall?' my answer is, 'Simply because his aesthetic seems to me in a certain sense akin to La Fontaine's, at once sound and delicate, realistic and fantastic'" (quoted in F. Meyer, Marc Chagall, Life and Work, 1963, New York, p. 348). Buoyed by Vollard's unwavering support and his success of the mid-1920s, Chagall boldly undertook the series.
The present work was among these lively, vibrant illustrations: "the burst into colour for Fables after the black and white of Dead Souls was expressive of the joy, exploration of nature, and stability in his life" (J. Wullschlager, Chagall, A Biography, New York, 2008, p. 327). Despite Vollard's efforts, the series--for which Chagall ultimately produced one hundred gouaches--was never published in its intended form. An edition of engravings after the colorful originals was released in 1952, but the gouache Fables remained largely unseen until the 1995 anniversary exhibition--the three hundredth year from La Fontaine's death and the tenth from Chagall's--at Céret.
The present fable tells of the rooster who outwits the proverbially clever fox. Standing guard from his treetop lookout, the rooster is met by the fox, who announces his "peaceful" approach and amicably offers his hand. Seeing through the ploy, the rooster agrees but claims to see two dogs drawing near and proposes that they wait until their arrival to formalize the truce. The fox, cowed by the dogs' reported approach, mutters his confused apologies and hastily retreats. In Chagall's rendering, we see one of the rooster's imaginary dogs bounding over the fox, who sheepishly teeters on his hind legs, as if to wave goodbye. The dog's fantastic presence, the fox's anthropomorphic bearing and the ethereal white background together give the story the "less literal and fragmentary, but more expressive and synthetic, interpretation" which Vollard had earlier promised in L'Intransigéant (quoted in F. Meyer, op. cit., p. 347).
In December 1924, shortly before leaving for New York, the young Pierre Matisse arranged for Marc Chagall's first solo exhibition in France at the Galerie Barbazanges-Hodebert. In 1927, the notable art critic Maurice Raynal included Chagall in his laudatory monograph, Modern French Painters. Despite this favor and recognition from his adopted country, Chagall still found himself caught between his Russian past and French present. His contemporary projects for dealer Ambroise Vollard reflect this "identity crisis"--his first illustrations in 1925 were for countryman Nikolai Gogol's novel Dead Souls, his next, in 1926, for Frenchman Jean de La Fontaine's classic 17th century Fables. The latter commission, however, was not without controversy. Nativist critics objected to the "Russian" painter interpreting the beloved French text and compelled Vollard to defend the choice in an article in L'Intransigéant: "'Why Chagall?' my answer is, 'Simply because his aesthetic seems to me in a certain sense akin to La Fontaine's, at once sound and delicate, realistic and fantastic'" (quoted in F. Meyer, Marc Chagall, Life and Work, 1963, New York, p. 348). Buoyed by Vollard's unwavering support and his success of the mid-1920s, Chagall boldly undertook the series.
The present work was among these lively, vibrant illustrations: "the burst into colour for Fables after the black and white of Dead Souls was expressive of the joy, exploration of nature, and stability in his life" (J. Wullschlager, Chagall, A Biography, New York, 2008, p. 327). Despite Vollard's efforts, the series--for which Chagall ultimately produced one hundred gouaches--was never published in its intended form. An edition of engravings after the colorful originals was released in 1952, but the gouache Fables remained largely unseen until the 1995 anniversary exhibition--the three hundredth year from La Fontaine's death and the tenth from Chagall's--at Céret.
The present fable tells of the rooster who outwits the proverbially clever fox. Standing guard from his treetop lookout, the rooster is met by the fox, who announces his "peaceful" approach and amicably offers his hand. Seeing through the ploy, the rooster agrees but claims to see two dogs drawing near and proposes that they wait until their arrival to formalize the truce. The fox, cowed by the dogs' reported approach, mutters his confused apologies and hastily retreats. In Chagall's rendering, we see one of the rooster's imaginary dogs bounding over the fox, who sheepishly teeters on his hind legs, as if to wave goodbye. The dog's fantastic presence, the fox's anthropomorphic bearing and the ethereal white background together give the story the "less literal and fragmentary, but more expressive and synthetic, interpretation" which Vollard had earlier promised in L'Intransigéant (quoted in F. Meyer, op. cit., p. 347).