Houses at Vitebsk

1917

Marc Chagall

Associated Names
Marc Chagall

Artist, Russian, 1887 - 1985

This painting shows a street leading into a rural village, framed by an open wooden gate. The gate is closest to us, and it stretches horizontally across the scene. In the background, there are small cottages. These cottages are mostly dark gray-brown, but one has a wall that is painted bright blue. There is a tall lamp post in a dirt clearing in front of the cottages, with a white goat partially visible next to it. The sky above is cloudy gray, and there are hints of green grass in the clearing and in front of the gate, near the bottom right corner. The brushstrokes are thick and visible.
This object’s media is not available for download. Contact us about image usage.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Purchased from the artist by (Dr. Herbert Tannenbaum [1892-1958], Das Kunsthaus, Mannheim); sold to Theodore Franck [d. 1953], Berlin and Los Angeles; by inheritance to his daughter, Mrs. Felix Gelber, Los Angeles;[1] (Perls Galleries, New York); purchased 1 August 1973 by NGA.
[1] The provenance of the painting is given in a letter of 8 January 1973 from Klaus G. Perls, director of Perls Galleries, to Charles Parkhurst (in NGA curatorial files). Theodor Franck was director of the Deutsche Bank in Berlin; his daughter brought the painting to the United States. Tannenbaum's Mannheim gallery exhibited Chagall in 1924 and again in 1927; it is likely the Houses at Vitebsk was sold on one of these occassions. On Tannenbaum see Für die Kunst! Herbert Tannenbaum und sein Kunsthaus. Ein Galerist - seine Künstler, seine Kunden, sein Konzept, exh. cat., Mannheim, Reiß-Museum der Stadt Mannheim, 1994.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2004

  • Verehrt und Verfemt -- Chagall und Deutschland, Jüdisches Museum, Frankfurt; Stiftung "Brandenburger Tor" der Bankgesellschaft Berlin, Max Liebermann Haus, 2004, no. 23, pl. 21.

2007

  • Mark Chagall and Jewish Mysticism, Utsunomiya Museum of Art; Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu; Chiba City Museum of Art, 2007, no. 15, repro.

2012

  • Chagall, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, 2012, unnumbered catalogue, fig. 11.

2013

  • Chagall, Modern Master, Kunsthaus Zürich; Tate Liverpool, 2013, no. 46, repro..

2014

  • Marc Chagall: Una retrospettiva 1908-1985, Palazzo Reale, Milan; Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, 2014-2015, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2017

  • Chagall et la musique, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2017, not in catalogue.

Bibliography

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 64, repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 84, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: Marc Chagall

Wikidata ID

Q20192125

You may be interested in

Loading Results