THE AMERICA WINDOWS
The fifth panel represents the theater, with the elements of a curtain, candelabrum, actor, and harlequin with a mask. The last and most dynamic panel of the group depicts dance, featuring a figure spinning within a ring of circles and three dancers—one holding a tambourine, the other two with arms outstretched. Chagall modified the compositions of both panels throughout their preliminary stages: in the theater panel, he gradually reduced the two visages of the central figure (2) to a single profile (4), as he did with a number of figures in the lower right of the composition. Comparison between the studies (1–2) and final gouache maquette (4) of the last panel shows that Chagall added the falling figure and the goat late in the process.
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(1) Marc Chagall. Chicago, Art Institute, Preparatory Study (detail), 1976. Pencil and ink on paper; 20.5 x 60 cm (8 1/16 x 23 5/8 in.). Musée National d'Art Moderne, AM 1998-81; (2) Chicago, Art Institute, Sketch for Window (5 & 6), 1976. Pencil and ink on paper; 28.5 x 38.4 cm (11 1/4 x 15 1/8 in.). Musée National d'Art Moderne, AM 1998-80; (3) Chicago, Art Institute, Preparatory Maquette (detail), 1976. Pencil, gouache, watercolor, and collage on paper; 20.4 x 59.2 cm (8 1/16 x 23 5/16 in.). Musée National d'Art Moderne, AM 1998-83; (4) Chicago, Art Institute, Final Maquette (5 & 6), 1976. Pencil, gouache, and watercolor on paper; 29.4 x 37.4 cm (11 9/16 x 14 3/4 in.). Musée National d'Art Moderne, AM 1998-84; (5) America Windows (detail), 1977. Stained glass; 244 x 978 cm (96 x 385 in.). The Art Institute of Chicago, a gift of Marc Chagall, the City of Chicago, and the Auxiliary Board of The Art Institute of Chicago, commemorating the American Bicentennial in memory of Mayor Richard J. Daley, 1977.938.