Chagall-gallery Wuyt in Amsterdam

<body bgcolor="#336699" vlink="white" alink="white" link="white"> <font size=6 color=white> <center><b>Wuyt <i>- art</i>  Info</b></center><br><p> <br> who are we<br><p> Wuyt art stands for our various activities involving the graphic art of Marc Chagall. In the sixties, Pieter Zuidema and Willemien Uyterlinde began collecting lithographs and etchings. Their children took a gradually increasing part in building the collection, which currently comprises several thousand graphic works by Chagall.<br><p> <br> where are we<br><p> For a few years now, Wuyt art has been housed in a historic little building on the quiet side of the short canal street sometimes called "the red carpet of the Rijksmuseum," which is in the Spiegelkwartier (Spiegel District). Going downtown from the Rijksmuseum, you will walk on the odd side of the Spiegelgracht, the stroll of many tourists, day trippers and art buyers. Among the elms across the canal a few buildings are dozing side by side in the sun. This quiet spot's atmosphere is reminiscent of the location of the famed MusŽe National Message Biblique Marc Chagall in the busy seaport of Nice on the Mediterranean: a haven of peace in tree-studded gardens.<br><p> Wuyt-art<br> Spiegelgracht 32<br> 1017 JS AMSTERDAM<br> Netherlands<br> Tel: 020-624.38.92<br> Fax: 020-420.02.20<br><p> <br> Wuyt gallery<br><p> The recently restored building at number 32 of the Spiegelgracht has a gallery space downstairs where up to thirty works can be exhibited. However, drawers contain 250 different lithographs and 100 different etchings Ð too many to choose from, but ideal for those who know what they are looking for. Buyers can directly take the work with them, framed or unframed. The accompanying Certificate of Authenticity is prepared after the purchase and sent through the mail.<br><p> The gallery originally had fixed opening hours. Unfortunately, such regularity is no longer possible due to the growing number of temporary exhibitions held elsewhere in the country by Wuyt art. Please call up front if you want to visit to be certain the gallery will be open on your arrival: 020-624.38.92.<br><p> <br> exhibitions<br><p> Over the years, we have found a formula for holding temporary exhibitions of the graphic art of Chagall. In 2001 we held ten exhibitions throughout the country. We exhibit in historic churches or other spaces that are freely accessible to everybody. The initiative is taken by locals who organize activities involving Chagall's life and work. It is they who select the works that go on exhibit and who take care of the organization and of aspects such as supervision.<br><p> <br> other activities<br><p> Wherever possible, Wuyt art participates in activities that may involve original graphic art by Marc Chagall.<br><p> Some examples:<br><p> - an auction for the benefit of a shul;<br> - a discussion evening about Chagall using original work and paying attention, for instance, to his poetry;<br> - a series of courses providing a better understanding of the work of Chagall, leading to more enjoyment;<br> - a presentation of a Dutch translation of the bible containing color prints of Chagall's work;<br> - a Jewish weekend festivity involving Chagall's work.<br><p> <br> the life of Chagall<br><p> Mark Zakharovich Shagal was born in the town of Vitebsk on the river Dvina in White Russia on 07-07-1887. Those three sevens appealed to Chagall's imagination. The oldest child in a large, penniless family, he grew up in a very devout Jewish environment. Dad dragged baskets filled with fish from the quay to the fish shop. Mom tried to make some extra money running a grocery in the front room of the house. The security he experienced in his youth (that is the love, the warmth, the joy of festivities) would form the foundation for Chagall's entire life, and is a constant in his work.<br><p> Vitebsk, however, was a small town in which Chagall could only get bored. The whole of Russia couldn't offer him enough. In 1910 he made for Paris and worked like one possessed. He returned to Vitebsk in 1914, where he married his old friend Bella. After World War I and a couple of years of communism, Chagall was certain he would leave this part of Europe forever. Traveling via Berlin, he went again to Paris, now with his wife and daughter. France became his second home, which he left only when World War II forced him to flee to America. Here, his wife died suddenly in 1944. After the war he returned to France, where he married Vava. She would turn out to be an equally inspiring wife. The French state built the "MusŽe National Message Biblique Marc Chagall" which is devoted entirely to Chagall. He died not far from the museum in his place of residence Saint-Paul-de-Vence in 1985.<br><p> <br> Chagall's graphic work<br><p> Chagall has about two thousand graphic works to his name. Over eleven hundred lithographs and six hundred etchings, as well as woodcuts, linocuts, and less well-known techniques such as pochoirs. Chagall was highly inspired by the possibilities of the various graphic techniques, and he also was attracted to the reproducibility of these artistic expressions.<br><p> lithographs<br><p> Due in part to the lack of space in Berlin for painting, his first (black-and-white) lithographs appeared in 1922/23. Much time would pass before Chagall dared to come up with color lithographs. Back in France after World War II, he kept restricting himself, despite the encouragement of many people. Only in 1954 did he feel that the lithographic stones challenged him like talismans, and that he had control over them. An unprecedented torrent of color lithographs then broke loose.<br> Large editions enabled his work to be accessible to the masses instead of confined to the elite, so he could bear out a message with it. The enormous success of his series of Parisian color lithographs from 1954 got him to create color lithographs of biblical tales: "La Bible" in 1956 and "Dessins pour La Bible" in 1960.<br><p> etchings<br><p> In 1922, Chagall made 26 etchings for his autobiographical novel "Ma vie" Ð his first graphic activity. He kept etching right until the end, and almost always for books, in complete series, like a poet releasing his poems in books of poetry. One of the highlights is the series of thirty aquatint etchings for the "Psaumes de David" (1979).<br><p> other work<br><p> woodcuts<br><p> Chagall made his most beautiful color woodcuts for his sole book of poetry, "Pomes" (1968). He needed 140 wood blocks for this book alone. The Wuyt collection has the complete print run of such a color lithograph, made with six wood blocks. The series offers a good opportunity to find out about Chagall's method.<br><p> pochoirs<br><p> The pochoir is a template-like technique that was eagerly used at the beginning of the previous century, for instance in Art Deco work. In order to get different tints, Jacomet later developed an ingenious, but time-consuming and very difficult method that had stunning results. In 1957-1958 Chagall issued a volume of thirteen pochoirs: "Couleurs amour". Jacomet must have worked for months to attain an edition of 320 copies. It appeared on hand-made paper that had been made especially for the occasion.<br><p> linocuts<br><p> Chagall made his first linocut in 1939. His second linocut was also a woodcut and appeared in 1960. Only towards the end of his life, when working with wood blocks became too strenuous for him and he no longer succeeded in doing refined work on the plate, did he use linoleum again. A year before his death, a series of six linocuts appeared; his last work published as a book.<br><p> <br> Chagall and Charles Sorlier<br><p> Arriving in Paris upon his return from America after World War II, Chagall met a young man at the famous Parisian printer Mourlot who was able to do all kinds of things with the lithographic technique: Charles Sorlier. Sorlier soon became head of the lithography department of the Mourlot printing business. Artists such as Miro, LŽger, Picasso and Matisse brought their lithographic stones here to have them printed. Sorlier would compile a reliable "catalogue raisonnŽe" for many of them. He would sometimes transfer their works of art onto lithographic stone, something he turned out to do masterfully. It was Sorlier who kept urging Chagall to produce color lithographs. He would be friends and closely cooperate with Chagall until Chagall's death. Chagall was often so pleased with Sorlier's work that he put his own signature on it (as with the poster-size color lithographs of the twelve stained-glass windows for the synagogue in the Hadassah university hospital in Jerusalem).<br> Due to their close connection, the Wuyt collection has brought together much of this team's lithographic work.<br><p> <br></font> </body>