Esquisse préparatoire pour la mise en page de la couverture de Franz Meyer Leben und Werk Cologne

Details

MARC CHAGALL (1887-1985)
Esquisse préparatoire pour la mise en page de la couverture de Franz Meyer Leben und Werk Cologne
signed 'Chagall' (at the centre)
gouache, brush and India ink and pencil on paper
13 x 19 7/8 in. (33 x 50.5 cm.)
Executed in 1961

Provenance

Urs-Victor Hammer, Germany.
R. Meyer, Wörthsee.
Private collection; sale, Zisska & Lacher, Munich, 23 July 2021, lot 3274.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Special Notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent. This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Further Details

The Comité Marc Chagall has confirmed the authenticity of this work.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Imogen Kerr Vice President, Senior Specialist, Co-head of 20th Century Evening Sale

ikerr@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7752 3177

Lot Essay

This delightful work is a preparatory sketch for the cover of Franz Meyer’s 1963 biography Marc Chagall. Leben und Werk. Meyer, a Swiss art historian and the husband of Chagall’s daughter Ida, set out to write a comprehensive German-language study of the artist. Chagall was heavily involved in the process, and his resulting contribution is a dense and poetic drawing treated minimally in Indian ink, pencil, and hints of gouache. The symbols reveal the contents of the book: Chagall's attachment to his homeland, the bond between humanity and nature, the transience of existence, and his deep and enduring affection for his wife.

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