MARC CHAGALL

(1887-1985)

Paysanne au visage vert

Footnotes

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

Provenance
Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York (acquired directly from the artist).
Galerie Felix Vercel, New York (acquired from the above in 1984).
Acquired from the above by the present owner in April 1986.



"Every painter is born somewhere, and even though he may later respond to the influences of other atmospheres, a certain essence – a certain 'aroma' of his birthplace clings to his work"
- Marc Chagall

Painted in 1981, Paysanne au visage vert hails from the coda of Marc Chagall's long and prolific career. At the age of 94, the artist was happily ensconced in the south of France, living peacefully and still painting with creative zeal. For most of his life, Chagall was itinerant, moving to St. Petersburg to study art in 1907, then to Paris, then fleeing to the United States as a refugee during World War II, and finally returning to France near the end of his life. Raised in a devout Jewish community in the small village of Vitebsk, his religious and cultural upbringing always remained at the forefront of his imagination and artistic expression. Vitebsk was a fundamental source of inspiration for the artist, who referred to the town as "the soil that nourished the roots of my art" (Marc Chagall quoted in J. Baal-Teshuva, Marc Chagall: 1887-1985, Cologne, 1998, p. 19).

Often referred to as the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century, Chagall is one of the foremost visual interpreters of the Bible. On his 86th birthday, for his inauguration address at the Musée Marc Chagall in Nice, the artist stated:

"Ever since early childhood, I have been captivated by the Bible... it has always seemed to me and still seems today the greatest source of poetry of all time. Ever since then, I have searched for its reflection in life and in Art. The Bible is like an echo of nature and this is the secret I have tried to convey" (Marc Chagall quoted in J. Baal-Teshuva (ed.), Chagall: A Retrospective, New York, 1995, p. 295).

For Chagall, memories of his youth were intrinsically intertwined with the Jewish faith. His unique style featured the people, places, and images that he treasured. Paysanne au visage vert contains several of the most crucial elements in the artist's pictorial iconography. The female peasant with a green face is the central figure. Her hand reaches towards the yellow rooster, likely an allusion to Mother Russia. The new-born baby, visible within the body of the rooster, possibly alludes to his daughter, Ida. The brown goat in the foreground was frequently symbolic of the artist himself, and representative of Chagall's agrarian roots and domesticity. The focal point of the composition is the luminescent full moon, with a warm glow like that of the sun, radiating up and over the distinctive buildings with uneven rooftops, a reference to Vitebsk.

Chagall conceived of the works created during this period as a return to the beginning—the sparks of first love and childhood pleasures in his home of Vitebsk are repeatedly presented in the context of the losses he suffered. As Susan Compton wrote in the catalogue of the Royal Academy's Chagall retrospective, "Throughout his life certain themes recur in the work of Chagall: the circus, lovers and peasants... For the themes in Chagall's art are timeless, not confined to a single epoch of history, but reminding man of the continuity of life for generation and generation, since the earliest days of recorded time" (S. Compton quoted in Chagall, exh. cat., London, 1985, p. 14).

Chagall did not directly incorporate biblical themes into his work until 1930, at which point his dealer, Ambroise Vollard, commissioned him to create a series of etchings for an edition of the Bible. Chagall traveled to Palestine in February 1931, where he stayed for two months, drawing inspiration from the Holy Land sites. The views and visions he had experienced from his time in Palestine left a vivid impression on Chagall. He explained in the early 1960s, "I did not see the Bible, I dreamed it" (Marc Chagall quoted in F. Meyer, Marc Chagall, New York, 1964, p. 384). The project was a gargantuan task that spanned 25 years, resulting in 105 etchings on copperplate featuring parables and figures from the Old and New Testament. Chagall would return to Israel three more times, the last visit being for the unveiling of a mosaic and three tapestries on Old Testament themes for the newly completed Knesset building in Jerusalem in 1969.

In Paysanne au visage vert, Chagall's use of gemlike colors, combined with a natural tenderness, convey a fable-like quality. The composition of is one of rich and sparkling color that invites the viewer into a magical and idyllic realm. The interplay between the varying tones generates an elegant sense of movement across the canvas, as the scene shifts from deep reds and blues, to bright effervescent yellow. The surface of the canvas is filled with frenzied brushstrokes of color, encapsulating a sense of the artist's vigorous and energetic painterly technique. For Chagall, color had always been one of the most integral elements of a composition, describing it as "the pulse of a work of art" (Marc Chagall quoted in J. Baal-Teshuva (ed.), op. cit., p. 180). Areas of bright pigment lead the viewer's eye from one part of the canvas to another, highlighting various figures that animate the canvas and generate a palpable sense of energy and movement.

Chagall's paintings are often dominated by blue, conveying the nostalgic yearning for a bygone time. Here, the painting is suffused with an ink-blue background creating a dreamlike quality, and the dominant blues are also used to outline the figures and animals which lend a luminescent quality to the figures. "A master of color, Marc Chagall reinvented a whole host of shades that had previous been overlooked. All of them vibrate with different intensities. With Chagall, the blues are not totally blue; they are often an intense blue, full of clever effects allowing for certain apparitions and expressing the approach of night. Less dense, at times, mixed with a milky white, they evoke the break of day. They bring out unusual tones in the language of today's painters: indigo, cobalt, ultramarine, when they are not Prussian blue, or naturally azure, turquoise or lavender" (J.-C. Marcadé et. al., Chagall connu et inconnu, exh. cat., Paris, Grand Palais National Galleries, 2003, p. 15).

Paysanne au visage vert boasts impeccable provenance. It was acquired directly from the artist by Pierre Matisse Gallery. Pierre, the youngest son of French painter Henri Matisse and the owner of the Pierre Matisse gallery, was a New York art dealer and a key figure of the twentieth-century art world. For a remarkable sixty years the gallery played a prominent role in the arts, championing French and European Modern art in the United States. In 1984, the painting was acquired by Galerie Felix Vercel, run by its namesake Félix Vercel, who was similarly dedicated to promoting contemporary artists in New York. The painting was purchased by the current owners just two years later, and has thence remained in the same collection, unseen to the art market, for over 35 years.