Portrait of a King

Portrait of a King

A bearded figure wearing a crown can be seen in this monochromatic vertical composition. He is positioned in the right foreground, depicted from the waist up. He wears a long-sleeved white garment and has a tablet with writing in Hebrew fastened around his neck by a chain. His head is tilted towards the right and he holds a small pitcher in his right hand. To the left, a large candelabra dominates the left side of the composition. Five lit candles can be seen but the remaining two candles are cut off by the left margin of the composition

Painter, printmaker, and designer Marc Chagall was born on July 7, 1887, in Vitebsk, Russia. He studied at the Imperial Society for the Protection of the Arts, in Saint Petersburg, and later with Russian painter Léon Bakst. In 1910 Chagall moved to Paris, and came in contact with Cubism and Fauvism. Chagall traveled back to Russia in 1914 but was prevented from returning to Paris by the outbreak of war. He founded the Vitebsk Popular Art School and remained as its director until 1920, when disagreements with the Suprematists led to his resignation. He moved to Moscow and eventually returned to Paris in 1923. During World War II Chagall fled to the United States and later settled permanently in France. During the 1960s Chagall continued to travel widely, often in association with large-scale commissions that he received. He died on March 28, 1985, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France.

Chagall’s work is characterized by rich colours and a fluid, painterly style. He preferred to compose “images based on emotional and poetic associations, rather than on rules of pictorial logic,”1 and his work always remained quite personal in feeling. Though there were Surrealist elements to his art, he predated that movement. Chagall’s early works, such as I and the Village (1911), were among the “first expressions of psychic reality in modern art.”2 He was comfortable working in a variety of media including not only paintings but also stage sets, etchings, and stained-glass.

https://cdm16120.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/fineart/id/689/rec/4

St. Catherines University Library and Archives

Unknown

St. Catherine University

This image may not be reproduced for any reason without the express written consent of the St. Catherine University. Contact the Visual Resources Library regarding rights to this collection. 651-690-6639

9 x 11 1/2 in.

English

Print

Etching

2013.0.1282