Facing Nude

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)

Medium: Original drawing, 1908, pencil and water-colour on paper, signed by the artist “Marc Chagall” (lower right)

Size: 337 x 225 mms

Provenance: David McNeil (The artists son), Paris, by decent
Chagall’s first wife, Bella, died tragically at a young age in 1944. For months after her death Chagall could not work but was helped through the crisis by his daughter, Ida. Ida hired an English French speaking maid called Virgina McNiel to take care of her father and Virginia became the artist’s muse until 1951. She was the mother of David McNiel from whose inheritance this present work comes.
Acquired by the last owner in 1987

Literature: V. Rakitin: “Chagall, Disegni inediti dalla Russe a Parigi, Milan, 1989. p. 30 (illustrated page 31)
Exhibited:
Milan, Studio Marconi, Marc Chagall, Disegni inediti dalla Russia a Parigi, May - July 1988; This exhibition later travelled to Turin
Galleria della Sindone, Palazzo Reale; Dec 1990 - Mar 1991
Catania, Monastrero dei Benedettini, Oct - Nov 1994 ;
Meina, Museo e centro studi per il disegno, June - Aug 1996
Hannover, Sprengel Museum, Marc Chagall “Himmel und Erde” Dec 1996 - Feb 1997
Darmstadt, Institute Mathildenhohe, Marc Chagall, Von Russland bis Paris, Zeichnungen 1906 - 1967 : Dec 1997 - Jan 1998
Abbazia Olivetana, Fondazione Ambrosetti, Marc Chagall, Il messaggio biblio, May -July 1998
Klagenfurt, Statgalerie, Marc Chagall, Feb - May 2000, p.17 (illustrated)
Florida: Boca Raton Museum of Art, Chagall, Jan - Marc 2002
Verso is a label printed with the title “Nudi in piedi, 1908, matita su carte, 33.5 x 22.5 cms”. Above this is written in pen 5.p8. 31. Probably this refers to the Italian exhibitions referred to above.

Authentication: This work is sold with a photo-certificate from David McNiel, the artists son

Note: Having ended his studies at Roenrich’s school of Savel Moisejevitch, Chagall entered the private school of Savel Moisejevitchg Saidenberg, an artist of genre scenes from Russian history. Here Chagall’s desire for artistic freedom was in confrontation with the academic predominance of the teaching even more then in the previous school. The standing nude, our picture, probably realised after a model, proves Chagalls submission to the academic aims of the school. Other works made by Chagall at this time are unexpectantly naturalistic, further betraying his constrained artistic freedom. Chagall succeeds in giving life and a certain lyriscm to the model by using only a few strong lines, enhanced by the hatching for the shading.