MARC CHAGALL - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 04/08/1932 - HFSID 82284

MARC CHAGALL
Chagal handwrote, signed and dated this untranslated letter in 1832
Autograph letter signed "Marc Chagall". 1 page, 5½x8¼. April 8, 1932. In French, untranslated. Begins "Dear Sir, Herewith a drawing…." Chagall (1887-1985, born in Vitebsk, Byelorussia) was an influential French painter and artist. The oldest of nine brothers, he was taught the Jewish religion and attended a Jewish elementary school until he was nine years old. Thereafter he studied at a school of painting in Vitebsk and later attended art school in St. Petersburg and then in 1910 moved to Paris. There he continued his studies, incorporating the Cubist multiple points of view and geometrical shapes into his compositions. In 1911 he painted I and the Villageand in 1912 Self-portrait With Seven Fingers. Chagall's career continued with his participation in exhibitions in Moscow and Paris. In 1914 he had his first one-man show at the gallery Der Sturmin Berlin. It was in that same year that he returned to his hometown Vitebsk to marry Bella Rosenberg. The married couple then moved to St. Petersburg. From there he sent 40 paintings to an art show in Moscow which took place in 1915. He continued to live in Russia, sometimes in Moscow and sometimes in Vitebsk, but finally left Russia in 1922 and settled in Paris. From there he continued his constant moving, first to Palestine (now, Israel) and in 1931 to the Netherlands. In 1931, Chagall published, in a French adaptation, My Life, which he had written earlier in Russian. His reputation as a modern master was confirmed by a large retrospective exhibition in 1933 at the Kunsthalle, Basel, Switzerland. In 1932, Chagall moved to Spain, in 1934 to Poland, in 1935, Italy, and then to Germany in 1937, which he left in 1941 to settle in the United States. After World War II, Chagall returned to France and lived in St. Paul de Vence. Between 1952 and 1966 Chagall painted a cycle of pictures called Biblical Message. These pictures are today found in a museum in Nice, France. They illustrate such biblical stories as Jacob's Dream, Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise, and Abraham and the Three Angels. In 1964, Chagall decorated the ceiling of the Paris Opera and in 1965 he painted the murals for the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He also painted in stained glass, designing windows in a cathedral in Metz and in Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem. Thereafter, he also painted stained glass windows for the Cathedral at Reims and for the Saint Etienne church at Mainz. Lightly toned and creased. Left and bottom edge are slightly irregular. Otherwise in fine condition. Accompanied by PSA/DNA LOA.