Author: CHAGALL, MARC
Title: The Jerusalem Windows: [Including Two Original Lithographs, As Issued] Text and Notes By Jean Leymarie
Description: New York: George Braziller, 1962. First Edition. Hardcover. ISBN: 0807604232. Illustrated by Marc Chagall. Includes the TWO ORIGINAL LITHOGRAPHS CREATED ESPECIALLY FOR THIS VOLUME. Cover is red cloth with gold lettering on front and spine. DJ covered by original glassine [as issued] B/W monochrome photo, appears to be of Jerusalem, off in the distance on both endpapers. Pages are clean and tight. Translated by Elaine Desautels. Printed in France; published in association with Horizon Magazine. Mark Zakharovich Shagal, known today all over the world as Marc Chagall, was born on July 7, 1887, in Vitebsk, Belorussia. Chagall's exposure to Cubism resulted in his attempts to incorporate the Cubist multiple points of view and geometrical shapes into his compositions...These earlier life and educational experiences clearly influence Chagall's later work, as seen in this volume. "Each of the twelve stained-glass windows reproduced on the following pages, is preceded by a preparatory set of drawings and models whose number, media, dimensions and order of presentation are exactly the same in sequence of each tribe and are arranged as follows..." Contents: Original lithographs; Introduction; Dimensions...; Reuben; Simeon; Levi; Judah; Zebulun; Issachar; Dan; Gad; Asher; Naphtali; Joseph; Benjami; Chagall in Reims; Drawings Related to the Windows. The Synagogue of the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center was dedicated on February 6th, 1962, as part of Hadassah's Golden Anniversary celebration. The floors and interior walls are made of Jerusalem Stone, and the Synagogue is illuminated by a hanging lantern and by sunlight which streams through the magnificent Chagall Windows. Marc Chagall, who was present at the dedication, spoke of the joy he felt in bringing "my modest gift to the Jewish people, who have always dreamt of biblical love, of friendship and peace among all people; to that people who lived here, thousands of years ago, among other Semitic people. My hope is that I hereby extend my hand to seekers of culture, to poets and to artists among the neighboring people. " The creation of the Windows was a labor of love to Chagall and his assistant, Charles Marq, both of whom worked on the project for two years. Marq developed a special process of veneering pigment on glass which allowed Chagall to use as many as three colors on a single uninterrupted pane, rather than being confined to the traditional technique of separating each color pane by lean strips. To ensure that each window received the proper light, Marq came to Jerusalem and made tests on the spot where each of the windows was to be placed. The Windows represents the 12 sons of the Patriarch Jacob, from whom came the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Chagall's Windows are populated by floating figures of animals, fish, flowers, and numerous Jewish symbols. To fully understand the significance of the Windows they must be viewed against Chagall's deep sense of identification with the whole of the Jewish history, its tragedies and victories, as well as his own personal background in the shtetl of Vitebsk, where he was born and grew up. "All the time I was working, " he said, "I felt my father and my mother were looking over my shoulder, and behind them were Jews, millions of other vanished Jews of yesterday and a thousand years ago. " Very oversized, 5.5#. HMVV**. ; Color and B/W Illustrations; 10 x 13 1/4; 210+ pages; Cover has light bumping and shelf wear, few very faint and small scuff marks. Sunning of top of pages, some dark smudging on bottom corners of some of the pages, visible only on the outside, does not intrude into page at all; ca. 1 1/2" x 3/4" faint glue residue mark, possibly from name label, at top of front end paper. DJ has some rippling, as does the accompanying glassine cover [original]. 1/4" x 1/2" triangular nick at top of spine, tiny bit of DJ and glassine missing, rest still present. 1" closed tear at top of back, through DJ and glassine; some edgewear to top and bottom.. Near Fine in Very Good+ dust jacket .

Keywords: 0807604232 Marc Chagall; Artists; Art; Painting; Painters; Modern Art; Modern Artists; Russian Art; Russian Artists; Cultural History Architecture Art Furniture/Interiors/Decorating Biography/Memoirs/Journals Judaism/Jewish History/Jews Social History


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