DISCUSSION:
Chagall creates a dreamlike world for the viewer in L'Horloge, weaving together iconography found throughout his oeuvre: the rooster, the embracing couple, the synagogue, the village seen from above and, of course, the clock.

Franz Meyer, the artist's son-in-law, writes that the clock represents, variously, "a mysterious item in the inventory of the world of [Chagall's] childhood," a reminder of homely memories, and an object personified, sporting a boot and a wing (Meyer, 379). These incarnations illuminate the many meanings of the clock, part furniture, part machine. By marking the time, it marks the passing of human life and, "In that very way it draws attention to the limits of the world of time and separates the human world from the eternal" (Ibid.). L'Horloge thus invites the viewer to contemplate the passing of time in its ethereal universe, where lovers blend with the green arc of the sky and the buildings sleep quiet and blue below. The work is wistful, romantic and mysterious all at once. Activating many visual phrases and layers of meaning, Chagall creates a work in which one can get lost.

Created in 1956, this color etching and aquatint was printed on BFK Rives paper by Georges Visat. The printer's blindstamp can be found in the lower left margin and his name in the lower right. This work is hand signed by Marc Chagall (Vitebsk, 1887 - Saint-Paul, 1985) in pencil at the lower right, and is also signed in the plate at the lower left. Published by Maeght, Paris, this work is numbered 294/300 in pencil in the lower left.

DOCUMENTED AND ILLUSTRATED IN:
1. Listed in the Maeght archives as no. 1202.
2. Meyer, Franz. Marc Chagall. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

ABOUT THE FRAMING:
This work is framed to museum-grade, conservation standards in a complementary moulding with a linen-wrapped mat and optical-grade Plexiglas.