MARC CHAGALL - TYPED MANUSCRIPT SIGNED - HFSID 177884

MARC CHAGALL
Short essay on Mysticism, typed on blue stationery from Réserve Miramar in Cannes, France and signed by Marc Chagall in black crayon. Chagall, who often used mystical and religious symbols in his works, claims in this manuscript: "...without mysticism would a single great painting, a single great poem, or even a single great social movement exist in the world?"
Typed manuscript signed "Marc Chagall" in black crayon. 1 page, 6x8¼, on blue stationery from Réserve Miramar in Cannes, France. Titled: "Mysticism". In full: "It is wrong of certain people to be afraid of the word 'mysticism,' giving it as they do a too religiously ortho-dox color. One should strip this term of its obsolete, musty exterior. It should be taken in its high, pure, un-blemished form. Mystic! How many times they have thrown this word in my face, just as formerly they have scolded me for being 'literary'! But without mysticism would a single great painting, a single great poem, or even a single great so-cial movement exist in the world? Does not every individual or social organism fade, does it not die, if deprived of the strength of mysticism, of feeling, of reason? With sorrow I answered my-self: one is wrong to be dead set against mysticism: it is precisely the lack of mysticism that almost destroyed France. MARC CHAGALL". Chagall (1887-1985, born Mark Zakharovich Shagal in Vitebsk, Belorussia, Russian Empire, now Belarus)considered one of the most original and eminent figures in 20th century art, is particularly well-known for his stained glass windows. Best known for the Jerusalem Windows and Peace for the United Nations (1964), his last monumental work in the medium was stained glass windows for chapel of Le Saillant in Corrèze. In 1914, Chagall first exhibited two of his works, Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers and The Fiddler, at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris. In June of that year, he had his first one-man show at the Galerie Der Sturm in Berlin. Chagall then traveled to Vitebsk, his hometown, intending to stay for a short visit, but the outbreak of WWI prevented him from returning to Paris, where he would later settle. Chagall created his first stained glass windows (for the church of Le Plateau d'Assy in Haute-Savoie) in 1957. Chagall was influenced by Cubism, Fauvism and Surrealism. His works, executed in a wide variety of media, from oils to stained glass, often featured subjects drawn from Russian village life, Jewish folklore and Hasidic mysticism. Lightly creased. Lightly torn on right and left edges. Otherwise in fine condition.