Etching and aquatint, 1924-25. 372x273 mm; 14 3/4x10 3/4 inches, full margins. Third state (of 3). Signed and numbered 63/100 in pencil, lower margin. Printed by Louis Fort, Paris. A superb, richly-inked impression of this extremely scarce, early etching.
Like many of Chagall's (1887-1985) prints from the outset of his career, L'Apparition, I (or The Vision) is based on an earlier oil on canvas which dates from 1917. After Chagall moved to Paris in 1923, he created new versions of many of the works he had made in Russia. L'Apparition, I depicts the young painter at his easel being visited by an angel. Chagall's paintings were often inspired by his dreams, and the winged angel is only one of many fabulous beings replete in his compositions. Chagall recognized that through his art he could escape into his imagination. He later said that painting, "Appeared to me like a window through which I could fly away toward another world." Kornfeld 44.
