The Ladder and Self Portrait. L'Échelle et l'Autoportrait by Marc Chagall, 1887-1985

Marc Chagall, 1887-1985
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The Ladder and Self Portrait. L'Échelle et l'Autoportrait

Original lithograph in four colours. 1957. Signed in pencil. Numbered in pencil from the signed edition of 90 impressions. Printed at the Mourlot Studio, 1957. Issued by Galerie Maeght, 1957. (There was also an unsigned edition trimmed to the image size and isssued in the album 'Chagall' by Lassaigne). Provenance: The Chagall Estate.
Ref: Mourlot - Chagall Lithographs no 200.
Colours: Blue, red, green and black.

Excellent impression with totally fresh colours. On pale cream wove Arches paper. Perfect condition; never previously mounted or framed. Full margins. Sheet: 15 x 11 1/4ins. Image worked almost to full sheet size: approx 10 x 8ins (255x200mm).

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A mysterious and highly evocative composition from the first period of Chagall?s work in lithography after the Second War. The figure is a stylised Self Portrait, the ladder a symbol of man?s aspirations towards a higher existence; the suggestion of a bust in the background with the flowers and the part-inscription Marc seem to suggest the split that Chagall, like other artists of his generation, felt between reality and the created world of the artist?s imagination.

Worked on the stone in a combination of pen-drawn line, with touches of brushwork and with the fascinating dotted contours, and enhanced by the bold green used on the face of the artist, with blue and red, this is an image which underlines the unique style and creativity of Chagall?s art in the first decade after the second War. It was a period when Chagall, like Picasso, was greatly stimulated by the image-making effects which he discovered were possible in lithography whilst working with Mourlot at his studio in Paris.