Inspired by the mythical poetics of Greece, Chagall

Inspired from the tales of The Arabian Nights, Chagall magically recreates this scene in which two lovers embrace with stunning aquamarine blues and greens contrasted against bright reds and yellows. An excerpt from the corresponding text from The Arabian Nights is as follows:
Then he spent the rest of the night with her
Embracing and clipping…

Rising up from the ocean a horned creature throws his hands out towards a boat of onlookers. These onlookers gaze on in awe, yet they do not appear frightened or concerned. Chagall's godlike creature, rising up from the ocean waves, does not seem threatening or malicious, yet he does appear powerful, standing with ease atop the crashing blue water. An excerpt from the corresponding text quotes Aeschylus, "By the waters of Aulis white with foam when the sails are reefed and the empty holds reverberate with the soldiers' plaints." Perhaps Chagall here depicts the port of Aulis, the embarking point for the Greek fleet during the Trojan War.

Of Chagall's fascination with Greek mythology Robert Marteau (who wrote the preface for In the Land of the Gods) states, "In truth Chagall has always lived in that Greece where the stuff of the universe has no seam, and where humanity is human just because it participates in the divine, and in each act proves that this is so. Moreover Greece teaches us that the essential act is poetic, allowing image, metaphor and myth, not to interpret nature, but everlastingly to renew creation so that we live in a perpetual revelation" (Mourlot, 142).

Created in 1967, this original color lithograph is from the book Sur La Terre Des Dieux (In the Land of the Gods). This work is numbered from the edition of 75 in pencil in the lower left margin (total edition of 145). Hand-signed by Marc Chagall (1887-1985) in pencil in the lower right margin, this work is published by A.C. Mazo, Paris and printed by Mourlot, Paris.

DOCUMENTED AND ILLUSTRATED IN:
1) Cramer, Patrick. Marc Chagall, The Illustrated Books: Catalogue Raisonné. Patrick Cramer: Geneva, 1995. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 72 on pgs. 224-225.
2) Gauss, Ulrike, ed. Marc Chagall: The Lithographs, La Collection Sorlier, Stuttgart, 1960. Listed and illustrated as cat. no. 535 on page 256.
3) Mourlot, Fernand. The Lithographs of Chagall, vol. III 1962-1968, Monté Carlo, 1960. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 535 on pg. 148 with details on page 141.

About the Framing:
Musuem grade conservation framed in a complementary moulding with silk mats and optical grade Plexiglas.