Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Lot 368 A PRIVATE COLLECTION

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)

Portrait de Barchan

Closed1 April 2008

Price Realised

GBP 8,125

More Information

How to sell

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Portrait de Barchan
signed and dated 'Marc Chagall 1923' (lower right), inscribed 'P.Barchan Berlin' (lower left)
charcoal on paper
10 5/8 x 7½in. (27 x 19.2cm.)

The artist's estate (no. D2935)
Thence by descent to his son, David McNeil
Purchased from the above by the present owners in 1987

Specialist note

Sold with a photo-certificate from Mr David McNeil.

This ensemble of three charcoal drawings of the writer Pavel Barchan were executed circa 1923, after Chagall came to Berlin for the second time in 1922. Chosing charcoal as his medium, Chagall gives a painterly quality to his friend's portraits to enhance the sitter's expression and features. Barchan was the author of a book on ballets entitled Das Russische Ballet in 1917 and as an art lover and Chagall's good friend, he dedicated an article to Chagall's oeuvre Marc Chagall in 'Deutsche Kunst and Decoration', 1959, pp. 292-299.