offset lithograph, Arches type paper, 80×62 cm, sign.pd.: Marc Chagall (facsimile), ld. in pencil edition marking: 319/500
Born in Lozna (now Belarus), Russian painter and printmaker of Jewish origin. A representative of the École de Paris. He studied drawing under the Vitebsk painter Jud Pena. In 1907 he began his studies at the St. Petersburg Academy. From 1910 to 1914 he was on scholarship in Paris, where he came into contact with Cubism and became friends with G. Apollinaire and M. Jacob. In 1915 he married Bella, and she was the muse for many of his paintings. In 1919 he was the artistic director of the State Jewish Theater in Moscow. Since 1947, he lived permanently in Paris. After naive-realist paintings in his early work, he succumbed to the influence of Cubism, Expressionism and Surrealism. His paintings are dominated by serene love themes, landscapes and religious scenes.
