CHAGALL, MARC (Russian, 1887-1985) "The Village by Night." Original color lithograph, 1950 (D.L.M. 250, n.27-28). Edition: c. 1,000 impressions, signed in the stone. 10" x 18" (sight); 21" x 17" (framed). Price Category: B

One of the most original artists of the 20th Century, Marc Chagall was born in Vitebsk, Belarus, in 1887 and died in France in 1985 at the age of 97. He was a painter, printmaker, designer, sculptor, ceramicist. A prolific artist, Chagall drew upon the folk mythology of Russian Jews from poor, backward villages and created a liberating landscape of dream images to give form to their yearning for fantasy and freedom. He was most of all an expressive colorist, whether working in lithography, painting, stained glass, or tapestry. His work is represented in collections and public buildings throughout the world, as well as two museums devoted to his oeuvre: the Chagall Museum in Nice and the Marc Chagall Museum in his native city of Vitebsk. Here, in "The Village by Night," two lovers, one a bright red cock, soar over a sleeping village, as a low moon nestles above the roofs of the houses below. The cock appears in Chagall's work on a number of occasions, usually accompanied by lovers, symbolizing fertility. This is one of the first two lithographs that Chagall drew directly on the stone, included in the 1982 catalogue raisonée of Derriere le Miroir and mentioned by Chagall's dealer, A. Maeght. Chagall was sent by Maeght to Mourlot's lithography workshop to learn the technique of using color stones. Once there, he formed a collaborative relationship with Charles Sorlier, a master-printer, with whom he worked until his death. Provenance: Spaightwood Galleries, Upton, MA.

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