Biography

Marc Chagall was a French painter of Russian Jewish origin.

The family environment, his hometown Vitebsk, motives from the Bible as well as from the circus are the main themes of his paintings. He also used the same recurring symbols in his mosaics and in the windows and theatre scenery he designed. Chagall is considered one of the most important painters of the 20th century. He is often classified to Expressionism and is known as a “painter-poet”.

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ARTWORKS Marc Chagall

König David mit Harfe
König David mit Harfe, 1966
glass plate in corroso technique
Ø 45 cm
Marc Chagall
König David mit Harfe

1966

glass plate in corroso technique

Ø 45 cm

verso signed, numbered and dated

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edition 2 of 3

Certificate

  • Egidio Costantini, Venice, 12 August 1967

Provenance

  • Egidio Costantini – Fucina degli Angeli, Venice
  • Maximeund Selma Levy Hermanos, NY (purchase of Egidio Costantini, 1967)
  • Daniel Barr, NY
  • Private collection, Switzerland

Comparative literature

  • Vicha, Jan. “Fucina degli Angeli and others”, In: World Art. Issue 23 December 1994, pages 3356f.
  • Egidio Costantini, Il Maestro dei Maestri, exhibition catalogue: Grand Place Bruxelles, Bruxelles, May 18 – July 1, 1990, Bruxelles: Espace Medicis 1990, pages 84-89

Condition
This sculpture is in perfect condition.

Note

After World War II, Peggy Guggenheim encouraged Picasso, Braque, Chagall, Léger and Arp to create works of art in glass with Costantini to revive the artistic tradition of the glass industry in Venice. Peggy Guggenheim, who lived in Venice, sponsored the first exhibitions of the Fucina degli Angeli. This glass sculpture was created by Marc Chagall with Egidio Costantini at the Fucina degli Angeli, Murano, Venice in 1966. Chagall is famous for his stained glass windows in the Fraumünsterkirche in Zurich and the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. One of these three King David sculptures is in the collection of the Chagall Family, Paris.

Egidio Costantini was among the last of the master glassmakers in Venice who worked in the Corroso Technique. This art of glass making is now no longer practiced because the process is too dangerous. Here, the hot molten colored glass sculpture is worked over by the artist in wax, then the sculpture is dipped in corrosive acid. This produces the rough surface of the glass.

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