Marc Chagall conjured up his native Russia in the works he painted from 1910 to 1914 while he was living in the French capital. Similarly, in the small painting Bride with Fan, he evoked his far-away fiancée Bella Rosenfeld, whom he would marry in 1915 upon his return to Vitebsk, Russia. The picture's palette of only blue and white is unusual within the artist's oeuvre, yet the brighter colors showing through the white paint suggest that Chagall reused an old canvas. Pierre Matisse, the son of artist Henri Matisse, had coveted the works of Chagall since 1924, when he first met the artist in Paris. Chagall was loath to part with his work, but in 1941 Pierre, who then owned an art gallery in New York, was able to mount an exhibition of Chagall's work that became a "blockbuster"; this was followed by sixteen more exhibitions at the gallery through 1982.
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Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left): M. Chagall 1911
the artist (1911–70; sold in October 1970 to Matisse); Pierre Matisse, New York (1970–d. 1989; stock no. 8021); his widow, Maria-Gaetana Matisse, née von Spreti, New York (1989–d. 2001); Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Foundation (2002; gift to MMA)
New York. Pierre Matisse Gallery. "Marc Chagall: A Celebration," May 17–June 11, 1977, not in catalogue.
Moderna Museet, Stockholm. "Marc Chagall," September 25–December 5, 1982, no. 10.
Humlebaek. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. "Marc Chagall," January 22–April 4, 1983, no. 10.
Saint Paul de Vence. Fondation Maeght. "Marc Chagall: Rétrospective de l'oeuvre peint," July 7–October 15, 1984, no. 7.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Chagall," January 11–March 31, 1985, no. 14.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Chagall," May 12–July 7, 1985, extended to July 21, 1985, no. 14.
San Francisco. Jewish Community Museum. "I and The Village: Early Works by Marc Chagall," January 11–March 30, 1988, no. 6.
Mexico City. Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo. "Chagall en Nuestro Siglo," October 10, 1991–January 26, 1992, no. 10.
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. "Marc Chagall: Les années russes, 1907–1922," April 13–September 17, 1995, no. 61.
Jewish Museum, New York. "Marc Chagall 1907–1917," March 31–August 4, 1996, no. 168.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Marc Chagall 1907–1917," September 19, 1996–January 5, 1997, no. 168.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection," May 18, 2004–June 26, 2005, no catalogue (checklist no. 6; as "The Betrothed").
Paris. Mona Bismarck Foundation. "Pierre Matisse, passeur passionné: Un marchand d'art et ses artistes," October 20, 2005–January 14, 2006, unnumbered cat. (p. 97).
Museo Picasso Málaga. "La Colección Pierre y Maria-Gaetana Matisse en The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York," March 26–June 24, 2007, no. 4.
Salem, Mass. Peabody Essex Museum. "Wedded Bliss: The Marriage of Art and Ceremony," April 26–September 14, 2008, unnumbered cat. (pl. 87).
Franz Meyer. Marc Chagall: Leben und Werk. Cologne, 1961, catalogue raisonné section, unpaginated, no. 47, ill.
Franz Meyer. Marc Chagall. 2nd ed. (1st ed. German, 1961). New York, [1964], p. 746, Classfied Catalogue no. 46, ill. n. p.
Noel Frackman. "Arts Reviews. Marc Chagall." Arts Magazine 52 (September 1977), p. 18.
Alexandre Kamenski. Chagall: Période russe et soviétique, 1907–1922. Paris, 1988, ill. p. 79.
Sabine Rewald in "Selections from the Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 61 (Spring 2004), pp. 10–11, ill. (color), calls it "The Betrothed".
David Minthorn. "Met Unveils Gifts from Matisse Son." Deseret News (May 23, 2004), pp. 1–2.
Louise Nicholson. "A Man of Infinite Taste: The Met has Bagged a Major Treasure in the Pierre Matisse Collection." Apollo 160 (October 2004), p. 85.
Paula Bradstreet Richter inWedded Bliss: The Marriage of Art and Ceremony. Exh. cat., Peabody Essex Museum. Salem, Mass., 2008, pp. 53–54, 176, colorpl. 87.
Sabine Rewald. The American Matisse: The Dealer, His Artists, His Collection. The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection. New York, 2009, pp. 40–41, 151, ill. (color).
Marc Chagall (French, Vitebsk 1887–1985 Saint-Paul-de-Vence)
1965
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