20th century Arts : decorative arts, design & modern art

LOTTE GOLDSCHMIDT / MARC CHAGALL

Lotte Goldschmidt / Marc Chagall
Costume in homage to Chagall, signed by the artist and made for the ball given at the Colombe d'or, 1951,

Comprising black cotton trousers and jumper decorated with drawings on paper, an orange-tinted plant-fibre wig and two painted cardboard masks depicting a Janus head, it stands out as a singular work, on the borderline between art and performance.

Chagall used the dreamlike motifs that run through all his work: roosters, violins, female figures, fantastic animals and moons in a bright, joyful palette. The costume was not only inspired by the painter's world: it was signed by him in watercolour during the evening, after he had first affixed his monogram. This gesture gives the piece a unique status in the artist's career - a habitable work, marked by a direct artistic complicity, and a rare testimony to Marc Chagall's personal involvement in a costume creation.

The ensemble was created by Madame Lotte Goldschmidt, who wore it to the artistic ball held in 1951 at the Colombe d'or in Saint Paul de Vence. A member of the founding circle of Roman magazine, launched that same year by a group of artists and writers led by Pierre de Lescure and Célia Bertin, she took part in the event with her husband Alexis, alias Pierre Algaux.
The ball was one of the founding moments of this publishing adventure, and Henri Matisse was commissioned to design the cover of the first issue. Twelve issues were published, first in Saint-Paul de Vence, then in Paris and Belgium.

A period photograph, which we have included with the set, bears witness to this unique moment: it shows Marc Chagall affixing his monogram to the costume worn by Madame Goldschmidt. The reverse bears the stamp of the Galerie Maeght.
wear, tears on the masks

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