Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall (1887 - 1985) - "The wolf becomes a shepherd" (La Fontaine's fable)
Date: circa 1927, gouache on paper, dimensions: 51 x 41.5 cm / 83.5 x 73.5 cm with frame, signed lower right, certification: Marc Chagall Committee, 30.1.2020
Provenance:
Kunsthandel E.J van Wisselingh & Co Gallery, Amsterdam
Collection of Dr. Sydney Kobrinsky (1909-1970), Winnipeg
Private collection, Sweden (acquired by the owner's father)
Private collection, Switzerland
Exhibitions:
La Fontaine by Chagall, Bernheim-Jeune Gallery, Paris, 1930.
La Fontaine by Chagall, Le Centaure Gallery, Brussels, 1930.
La Fontaine by Chagall, Alfred Flechtheim Gallery, Berlin, 1930.
Mac Chagall, The Tales of Fontaine, Museum of Modern Art, Céret, October 28, 1995 - January 8, 1996.
Marc Chagall, The Tales of Fontaine, Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall, Nice, 13.1. - 25.3., 1996.
Literature:
Marc Chagall, by Franz Meyer, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, New York, 1961, black and white illustration under #434.
Marc Chagall, The Tales of Fontaine, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1995-1996, page 59.
Exhibition catalogue, Marc Chagall, Les Fables de Fontaine, Musée d'Art Moderne, Céret, 1995-1996, p. 59.
Exhibition catalogue, Marc Chagall, Les Fables de Fontaine, Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall, Nice, 1996, p. 59.
Description of the work:
After leaving Russia in 1926, Marc Chagall was commissioned by Ambroise Vollard to illustrate the renowned book Fables by Jean de La Fontaine, published in 1668. Due to the high cost of the first printing tests, only a few plates were actually engraved from over a hundred drawings created by Chagall. In 1930, these drawings were the subject of three exhibitions in Paris, Brussels and Berlin. Although these gouaches were dispersed, a special printed edition of Tériade in 1952 preserved a trace of the entire composition. These series of drawings are an important part of Chagall's work because they mark a turning point in his artistic creation. These works are far from his usual visual language of Jewish and Russian origin, as well as the predominant influence of avant-garde movements in France.
Jean de La Fontaine and his creative genius knew no geographical boundaries; his famous fables and their meaning are known all over the world. It is no wonder why Vollard decided to create such a project and connect this legendary writer with the soon-to-be legendary artist. Cultural differences were in fact at the heart of Vollard's idea as Chagall's phantasmagorical universe, influenced by myths and his orthodox culture, fits perfectly into the poet's world of fables.
On January 8, 1929, Vollard published the article "From La Fontaine to Chagall" in the daily newspaper "L'intransigeant", where he explained his choice: "in short, every detail coming from the Oriental origin that inspired the author, whether it was Aesop, the Hindu storytellers , Persian or Chinese, made me wonder who could be better than anyone else to appropriately transcribe this cultural oriental diversity. And if someone asks me now: why Chagall? I answer: Precisely because of his aesthetic, which seems to me very close and in a sense similar to that of La Fontaine, at the same time dense and delicate, realistic and fantastic. "The wolf who becomes a shepherd" is one of the gouaches that the artist made in 1927 at the request of Ambroise Vollard. It illustrates the fable III of Book III
Jean de La Fontaine, telling the story of the wolf who became a shepherd. This work is painted in a palette of flamboyant tones characteristic of Chagall's incomparable style. Unlike other illustrators of fables, the artist decided to illustrate this story as faithfully as possible. Although he did not exactly explicitly and morally rewrite the poses and situations of the characters, Chagall created a dream world in which humans and animals co-exist together and where each animal has its own symbolic meaning. The moral of the fable is thus linked to the ideology of the artist. By placing animals on the same scale as humans, humans pit themselves against each other socially. Chagall creates a perfect balance between classical references in French literature and metaphors, especially those related to Russia. He uses his own culture and his memories to illustrate one of France's most important books.
Marked by his desire for integration, we easily recognize the landscapes of the French countryside created from large areas of green and purple. This gouache really shows heterogeneity and freedom in the techniques used by the artist. A touch that is dense and sometimes transparent creates a unique space where the edge between the real and the unreal does not exist, thus leaving room for dreams and our imagination.
