Chagall’s most famous prewar paintings, such as I and the Village, 1911, come into relief in this context. In fact, Wullschlager’s greatest achievement is to rescue these masterworks from the seemingly endless stock of painting and lithography and stained glass that Chagall left behind when he died, in 1985. The vast majority of this oeuvre is interchangeable and, as such, essentially decorative. Late in life, he’d often return to a canvas, saying, “Now it just needs a little more Chagall,” as if “Chagall” were the name of an all-purpose zest. The bright blur of acclaim ultimately, detrimentally, became its own context. He lost touch with his past. Chagall himself would have benefi ted from reading Wullschlager’s biography. "A Master in Context" originally appeared in the October 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's October 2008 Table of Contents.