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Spaightwood Galleries
Marc Chagall: The Jerusalem Windows (1962)
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Marc Chagall, Remarks at the dedication of the Jerusalem Windows (1962)
How is it that the air and earth of Vitebsk, my birthplace, and of thousands of years of exile, find themselves mingled in the air and earth of Jerusalem.
How could I have thought that not only my hands with their colors would direct me in their work, but that the poor hands of my parents and of others and still others with their mute lips and their closed eyes, who gathered and whispered behind me, would direct me as if they also wished to take part in my life?
I feel too, as though the tragic and heroic resistance movements, in the ghettos, and your war here in this country, are blended in my flowers and beasts and my fiery colors. . . .
The more our age refuses to see the full face of the universe and restricts itself to the sight of a tiny fraction of its skin, the more anxious I become when I consider the universe in its eternal rhythm, and the more I wish to oppose the general current.
Do I speak this because with the advance of life, the outlines surrounding us becomes clearer and the horizon appears in a more tragic glow?
I feel as if colors and lines flow like tears from my eyes, though I do not weep. And do not think that I speak like this from weakness—on the contrary, as I advance in years the more certain I am of what I want, and the more certain I am of what I say.
I know that the path of our life is eternal and short, and while still in my mother’s womb I learned to travel this path with love rather than with hate.
These thoughts occurred to me many years ago when I first stepped on biblical ground preparing to create etchings for the Bible [1931]. And they emboldened me to bring my modest gift to the Jewish people which always dreamed of biblical love, of friendship and peace among all peoples; to that people which lived here thousands of years ago, among other semitic peoples.
My hope is that I hereby extend my hand to seekers of culture, to poets and to artists among the neighboring peoples. . . .
I saw the hills of Sodom and the Negev, out of whose defiles appear the shadows of our prophets in their yellowish garments, the color of dry bread. I heard their ancient words. . . . Have they not truly and justly shown in their words how to behave on this earth and by what ideal to live?
For the 1962 publication of a deluxe book on the making of the Jerusalem Windows, Chagall executed two original lithographs (M. 365 and M. 366) and Charles Sorlier, Chagall's Master Printer at the Mourlot workshop, where Chagall executed all of his lithographs from 1950 until his death, made twelve 20-color stone lithographs after Chagall's final models for the windows under Chagall's supervision. The work was published by Andre Sauret, one of the great European art book publishers of the middle third of the century, and published in an edition of unknown size (although it is hard to find copies now and impossible to find them inexpensively even when they can be found). The image size of the lithographs is 296x215mm; each is prices at $575 and comes matted in an archival 16x20 acid-free museum board mat. The sequence that follows illustrates the windows (which figure the twelve sons of Jacob who became the heads of the Twelve Tribes of Israel) in the order in which Jacob describes his sons in Genesis 49 (see below for full passages): "All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, blessing each one of them with a suitable blessing" (Gen. 49:28).
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Reuben. 20-color stone lithograph by Charles Sorlier after Chagall's final model for the Jerusalem Windows, 1962. Printed by Mourlot Freres (Paris) and published by Andre Sauret Editeur, Monte Carlo. Edition unknown. Image size: 296x215mm. Price: $575.
Then Jacob called his sons, and said: “Gather around, that I may tell you what will happen to you in days to come. Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father. Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the first fruits of my vigor, excelling in rank and excelling in power. Unstable as water, you shall no longer excel because you went up onto your father’s bed; then you defiled it—you went up onto my couch! (Gen. 49:1-4)
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Simeon. 20-color stone lithograph by Charles Sorlier after Chagall's final model for the Jerusalem Windows, 1962. Printed by Mourlot Freres (Paris) and published by Andre Sauret Editeur, Monte Carlo. Edition unknown. Image size: 296x215mm. Price: $575.
Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. May I never come into their council; may I not be joined to their company–for in their anger they killed men, and at their whim they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. (Gen. 49:5-7)
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Levi. 20-color stone lithograph by Charles Sorlier after Chagall's final model for the Jerusalem Windows, 1962. Printed by Mourlot Freres (Paris) and published by Andre Sauret Editeur, Monte Carlo. Edition unknown. Image size: 296x215mm. Price: $575.
Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. May I never come into their council; may I not be joined to their company–for in their anger they killed men, and at their whim they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. (Gen. 49:5-7)
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Judah. 20-color stone lithograph by Charles Sorlier after Chagall's final model for the Jerusalem Windows, 1962. Printed by Mourlot Freres (Paris) and published by Andre Sauret Editeur, Monte Carlo. Edition unknown. Image size: 296x215mm. Price: $575.
Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion, like a lioness—who dares rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him and the obedience of the peoples is his. Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes; his eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. (Gen. 49:8-12)
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Zebulun. 20-color stone lithograph by Charles Sorlier after Chagall's final model for the Jerusalem Windows, 1962. Printed by Mourlot Freres (Paris) and published by Andre Sauret Editeur, Monte Carlo. Edition unknown. Image size: 296x215mm. Price: $575.
Zebulun shall settle at the shore of the sea; he shall be a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon. (Gen. 49:13)
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Issachar. 20-color stone lithograph by Charles Sorlier after Chagall's final model for the Jerusalem Windows, 1962. Printed by Mourlot Freres (Paris) and published by Andre Sauret Editeur, Monte Carlo. Edition unknown. Image size: 296x215mm. Price: $575.
Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds; he saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant; so he bowed his shoulder to the burden, and became a slave at forced labor. (Gen. 49:14-15)
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Dan. 20-color stone lithograph by Charles Sorlier after Chagall's final model for the Jerusalem Windows, 1962. Printed by Mourlot Freres (Paris) and published by Andre Sauret Editeur, Monte Carlo. Edition unknown. Image size: 296x215mm. Price: $575.
Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a snake by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider falls backward. I wait for your salvation, O LORD. (Gen. 49:16-18)
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Gad. 20-color stone lithograph by Charles Sorlier after Chagall's final model for the Jerusalem Windows, 1962. Printed by Mourlot Freres (Paris) and published by Andre Sauret Editeur, Monte Carlo. Edition unknown. Image size: 296x215mm. Price: $575.
Gad shall be raided by raiders, but he shall raid at their heels. (Gen. 49: 19)
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Ascher. 20-color stone lithograph by Charles Sorlier after Chagall's final model for the Jerusalem Windows, 1962. Printed by Mourlot Freres (Paris) and published by Andre Sauret Editeur, Monte Carlo. Edition unknown. Image size: 296x215mm. Price: $575.
Ascher’s food shall be rich, and he shall provide royal delicacies. (Gen. 49:20)
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Naphtali. 20-color stone lithograph by Charles Sorlier after Chagall's final model for the Jerusalem Windows, 1962. Printed by Mourlot Freres (Paris) and published by Andre Sauret Editeur, Monte Carlo. Edition unknown. Image size: 296x215mm. Price: $575.
Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears lovely fawns. Gen. 49:21)
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Joseph. 20-color stone lithograph by Charles Sorlier after Chagall's final model for the Jerusalem Windows, 1962. Printed by Mourlot Freres (Paris) and published by Andre Sauret Editeur, Monte Carlo. Edition unknown. Image size: 296x215mm. Price: $575.
Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall. The archers fiercely attacked him; they shot at him and pressed him hard. Yet his bow remained taut, and his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, by the God of your father, who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father are stronger than the blessings of the eternal mountains, the bounties of the everlasting hills; may they be on the head of Joseph, on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers. (Gen. 49:22-26)
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Benjamin. 20-color stone lithograph by Charles Sorlier after Chagall's final model for the Jerusalem Windows, 1962. Printed by Mourlot Freres (Paris) and published by Andre Sauret Editeur, Monte Carlo. Edition unknown. Image size: 296x215mm. Price: $575..
Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey, and at evening dividing the spoil.” (Gen. 49:27)
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Frontispiece, Jerusalem Windows: The Tables of the Law (M. 365). Original color lithograph, 1962. Printed by Mourlot Freres (Paris) and published by Andre Sauret Editeur, Monte Carlo. Edition unknown. Image size: 296x215mm. Price: $1250.
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The Jerusalem Windows: The Canlestick (M. 366). Original color lithograph, 1962. Printed by Mourlot Freres (Paris) and published by Andre Sauret Editeur, Monte Carlo in the deluxe edition of Chagall's Jerusalem Windows. Edition unknown. Image size: 296x215mm. Price: SOLD.
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Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.
To purchase, call us at 1-800-809-3343 (508-529-2511 in Upton MA & vicinity) or send an email to sptwd@verizon.net. We accept AmericanExpress, DiscoverCard, MasterCard, and Visa.
For directions and visiting information, please call. We are, of course, always available over the web and by telephone (see above for contact information). Click the following for links to past shows and artists. For a visual tour of the gallery, please click here. For information about Andy Weiner and Sonja Hansard-Weiner, please click here. For a list of special offers currently available, see Specials.
Visiting hours: Saturday and Sunday noon to 6 pm and weekdays by arrangement.
Please call to confirm your visit. Browsers and guests are welcome.
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