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Sotheb To Sell T S bys o Three Excep ptionallly Rar re Paintings b Ma Chagall by arc in the Isra & Interna al Art S aeli ationa Sale in New York on 14 Dec i w k 4 cember

-R Rare Oil Paintings of Synagog Interio rs by Chagall: Only Six Finish f gue y hed Examples Are Known To Exist E A n t
-These Three Pai e intings Hav Remaine in the C ve ed Cottin Colle ection for A Almost 70 Years 18 Nove ember 2011 --- Sotheby New York is delighted to announce that it will present for s three ys k d sale exceptio onally rare oil paintings o synagogue interiors by Marc Chag (1887-1985). In all, only six of e y gall , finished oils of synagogues by the artist are kn e nown to exist. These three paintings co to marke for the . e ome et first time in 66 years from a desc e s cendent of th original ow he wner Max Co ottin, who acquired them from the 1945 ex xhibition at the Gallery of J Jewish Art in New York. L Leading this offering in the forthcoming Israeli & o e g onal Internatio Art auct on Wedn tion nesday, Dece ember 14, 20 is Chagalls 1931 Interior of the Y 011 Yemenite HaGora Synagogue Jerusalem, illustrated ab al e, , bove, which c carries an esti imate of $40 00/600,000 0*.

Commenting on the sale of these rare and revealing paint e tings, Jennife Roth, Senio Vice Presi er or ident and Head of the Sotheby Israeli & In ys nternational A Departme said: Do Art ent, ocumentary pa aintings by Ch hagall are remarkab rare and only six finishe oils of synagogues by C bly o ed Chagall are kn nown to exist The sale thi coming t. is December represents a truly uniq opportuni for collect of Chaga to acquire works from this little s que ity tors all e known as spect of his oe euvre. Fitting testimony to their importa o ance and rarity two of the other three sy ty, ynagogue paintings reside in Mu s useum collect tions: one pai inting is in the Stedelijk Museum in Am e M msterdam; one is in the e Israel Mu useum in Jer rusalem; and the third is i a Private C in Collection, on extended lo to Muse dart et n oan dhistoire du Judasme e e.

A clue t the signific to cance of the three pain ese ntings was fo ound in a sm cache of letters, written in the mall 1960s a 1970s, between Chag and Max Cottin. The corresponde and b gall x e ence demons strates Chaga great alls attachme to the pa ent aintings that M Cottin ha acquired a eventually Chagall asks if he can b them Mr ad and buy back or a arrange a mu utually advant tageous exchange. The re equest was poignantly but firmly declin t ned.

In the spring of 1931, Ch hagall and h family spe three his ent mo onths in the Holy Land a trip he undertook t gather e d, to ma aterial for his Bible etchin While Ambrose Volllard his s ngs. A de ealer had commissione this project, Vollard did not ed support or understand Chag galls desire to travel to th land of he the Bible and s it for him e see mself. Ultimately, this trip brought p Ch hagall closer to his Jewish roots and was to be th first of he ma visits ther In the mys any re. stical hill town of Safed, th seat of n he Ka abbalah, Cha agall painted two views of the HaAri Sephardi f Sy ynagogue (now in the Israel Museu and the Stedelijk um Museum) and o of the HaAri Ashken Synagogue, which one H nazi is included fo sale. Inte or erior of the Ashkenazi HaAri e Synagog gue, Safed, 1 1931, illustrat left, is es ted stimated at $ $300/500,0 000 and the synagogue depicted, e with its e elaborate Ark with ornate carving by G k e Galician craft tsmen, is still in use today It is no surprise that y. Chagall, raised in the Hassidic tra e adition, would have been drawn to syn d nagogues ded dicated to th HaAri, he Rabbi Isa Luria (1534-72), who had a profou impact on mystical Judaism. aac und n

The larg of the three Cottin pa gest aintings, Inte erior of the Y Yemenite Ha aGoral Syna agogue, Jeru usalem, is more en nigmatic and is estimated at $400/6 d 600,000. D Discussing her research into this work, Jennifer r , Roth, co ommented: U Unable to dis scover any photo of the sy ynagogue, I was determine to find the structure w ed itself, to explore whet it still res ther sembled Chag galls delicate and exquisite depiction. A scholar of J e e Jerusalem synagogu provided the address and instructed me to simp go there, as there was no phone. I the old ues ply s In

Yemenite neighborho in Nachla e ood aot, through a maze of w winding pedes strian streets, impassable to motor , traffic, I f finally spotted a small plaq with the n d que name of the s synagogue. W Within momen we were st nts tanding in the smalll upstairs room in the foots m, steps of Chag admiring the tri-partite wooden Tor Ark surmo gall, e rah ounted by delicate c carving, which had been so lovingly portr h rayed.

The third of the synagogue works was painted in d s Vilna, L Lithuania, in 1935, where Chagall w e was invited to open the Museum of Jewish Art. The o M painting has a more somber feel t s than the othe ers, perhaps an indication of the gathering clouds of n the 1930s. Beneath the glow of the beautif ful stained g glass window the synag ws, gogue is show wn empty. It depicts the Kloyz or st t tudy hall of the Vilna Ga Remarka aon. ably, the painting appears to be the o only extant re ecord of the Torah Ark of e this sma but import all tant synagog gue, which w was destroye just a few years later in the ashes of the Holoca ed n o aust. Synago ogue in Vilna the Kloyz of the a, z Vilna Ga aon, 1935, illustrated abo is estimat at $300/ ove, ted /500,000.

All three oil paintings were shown in 1945 at the Gallery of Jewish A in New Yo where M Cottin e n t Art ork, Mr. bought h treasured artworks. The exhibition o his e opened as Wo War II wa finally draw to a close and the orld as wing full impa of the dest act truction of Eu uropean Jewr was becom known. ry ming

Among t other highlights of the sale on 14 D the e December are several work by Reuven Rubin, including The e ks n Drumme of Meron from 1929, as well as se er n everal landsca apes and still lifes; Nahum Gutmann, t other m the founding father of Israeli art, is rep g presented by t brightly c two colored harbo scenes of Jaffa and Haifa. Other or J exceptio works inc onal clude oils by M Mordecai Ard Ori Reis don, sman and Michael Gross a a large-scale steel and sculpture by Yaacov Agam. The Contempo e v e orary art sect tion includes a video by Sigalit Land s y dau, who represen Israel at this years Ve nted t enice Biennale e.

Notes to Editor: *Estimate do not includ buyers prem es de mium.