The artwork titled “Drawing by Marc Chagall for Vladimir Mayakovsky’s 70th birthday” was created by Marc Chagall in 1963 in France. Executed in the medium of lithography on paper, this piece belongs to the Naïve Art (Primitivism) movement and falls within the genre of literary painting.
In the artwork, an amalgamation of elements is presented in a style reminiscent of childlike simplicity yet brimming with evocative forms and figures. The composition includes a figure on the right-hand side, which appears to be an anthropomorphic being holding onto what looks like a ladder or a wheel mechanism. In the upper part, above the swirling foliage, there are portrait sketches floating amidst the arrangement, creating a whimsical and surreal atmosphere. An inscription in Cyrillic script denotes “Mayakovsky” with an arrow pointing towards the portraits and a circled number “70,” celebrating the esteemed poet’s milestone birthday. The overall presentation exemplifies Chagall’s distinctive ability to blend the fantastical with the literary, capturing a celebratory essence through his vibrant and imaginative visual language.
