The exhibition can be viewed from 29th July 2012 to 5th April 2012 at the Leonardo Gallery, Klasztorna Street 1a, Kazimierz Dolny. Admission is free in the gallery’s opening hours, 10am – 7pm.

We present you with a unique collection of graphics by Marc Chagall; the works are signed: H.C., E.A., and Epreuve d’essai. These are works an insider’s edition (they were not originally for sale; they were works made for the artist or art dealers, they may also be test hardcopies made by the artist in a number of 5-15 copies, no more). The graphics that will be presented come from the collections of two art collectors, it includes 6 black-and-white litographies from the “Circus” 1967 series, 5 colour litographies from different editions, and one litography for a poster made for the  Metropolitan Opera in Now York.

MARC CHAGALL (1887-1985) – Born in Liozna, near Vitebsk (present-day Belarus) in a Jewish family cultivating the tradition of Polish Hasidism. In Saint Petersburg he was taught by Nicholas Roerich and Léon Bakst. When he went to a scholarship in Paris (1910-1914), he joined a group of painters gathered around Montparnasse, where he met pioneers of various artistic trends (Apollinaire, Delaunay, Modigliani, Leger). He was the founder of the Fine Arts Academy in Vitebsk. In 1935 he came to Poland, then he stayed in Europe and the USA, to finally settle for good in the south of France. He died on the 28th of March 1985 in Saint-Paul de Vence, where his resting place is. In the National Museum in Nice one can see the world-famous collection of his works. Chagall, next to Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, is considered one the most prominent painters of the 20th century. He created a unique style close to the Coulorists and the fairylike Surrealism, characterised by a liquid deformation of shapes, the overlapping of worlds and orders, the suggestive lyricality of the depictions. He was also fascinated with graphics; he created illustrations to Gogol’s “Dead Souls,” La Fontaine’s “Fables,” the Bible; he created projects for the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Opera in Paris; he left a large collection of litographies.

LEONARDO GALLERY – It was founded in 2009 by Jacek Piotr Jarosz and Paweł Zacharewicz. The keynote of creating the Gallery was to open Kazimierz Dolny to interesting artistic phenomena through inviting young brave artists from all over the country and abroad to co-operate. It is a process which takes time, sensitivity, and great intuition. The Leonardo Gallery presents paintings of over 30 artists from the region, from Poland and abroad; there are also periodical exhibitions of our most prominent painters (Robert Romanowicz, Sławomir Mikawoz, Kornel Wilczek). On the turn of September and October we will present the incredible paintings by Benedykt Kroplewski.Moreover, the Gallery sells artistic pottery from several Polish workshops and, on a smaller scale, sculptures. The Gallery’s manifesto can be found on their website www.galerialeonardo.com.pl.