Leon Gaspard Art

Leon Gaspard 1882-1964 Russian Portrait of Marc Chagall Oil on canvas Inscribed and dated "1911" (lower left) This striking portrait by Leon Gaspard of Marc Chagall, one of the most important artists of the 20th century, is demonstrative of Gaspard's ability to capture a subject's essence, along with their likeness, in personal portraiture. An impressive rendering of the famously elusive artist, Gaspard’s Portrait of Marc Chagall is a unique work of both artistic and historical significance. The intimate Post-Impressionist portrait features a spectacled 24-year-old Marc Chagall, who glances sideways beneath his downturned hat, with his coat collar folded up against the cold. Gaspard, an old friend of the modernist master, portrays Chagall as a pensive, solitary figure. Chagall’s time in Paris was both creatively exhilarating and an exceptionally lonely period for the artist, marked by homesickness. As a fellow Russian émigré, Gaspard understood this inner turmoil. Chagall continued to paint Russian and Jewish subjects while abroad as an homage to his beloved homeland. Dated 1911, Portrait of Marc Chagall was painted during a formative period of the artist's career, as it was the same year Chagall completed his landmark work I and the Village...