New Year’s Card 1951

Marc Chagall made this New Year's Card, date unknown, with lithography, and the process is clear to see. The colours and marks are layered in such a way that you can see each individual step of the printing, it is a real working out on the surface. Looking closely you can see the texture of the lithographic crayon or tusche washes on the paper. The blue bird-headed figure is quite a sight - is that a crown it's wearing? And what is it reading in its little hands? I love how the red plume behind its head swoops around almost like it's protecting the tiny couple in the boat! There's a dreamlike quality, like much of Chagall's work. He invites us into a world where the familiar and the fantastical merge. It reminds me a little of Joan Miró, who also mixed figuration and abstraction with such playfulness, and with his own distinct visual language. It's all about embracing the unexpected, I think, and finding joy in the unpredictable journey of artmaking.