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Created 1922/’23, printed 1950; pencil signed, lower right; pencil editioned, 2/20; printed on cream wove. Further unnumbered proofs from 1922/’23.
A note on this print: While in Berlin in 1922, Chagall was introduced to the techniques of printmaking by Hermann Struck and he completed his first etchings in three weeks. He also produced six woodcuts during this time, all of which related to life in Russia. They would be the last the artist produced as an Eastern Russian artist; by 1922, the policies of Vladimir Lenin had a firm grip on its citizens and this woodcut reflects Chagall’s disillusionment with the Bolshevik government – once promising for many artists after the fall of the Tzarist Empire, but soon proving to be restrictive in its own way.
Here, a uniformed man armed with a gun has his leg raised in a lockstep. His head is hidden by the overhang of the roof, concealing him while he seemingly eavesdrops on conversations within the house. A boot and cap on the roof appear as symbols of the lost Russia of Chagall’s childhood. A further tribute to Russia are the initials PC CP carved into the sky at the peak of the roof.
A note on condition: this print has been professionally conserved and the paper has been backed.
