Marc Chagall

Author: Nick Burton
Published on: Apr 16, 1999

Marc Chagall was born in 1887 in the Belorussian city of Vitsyebsk, a Jewish ghetto. His family was large, and he was the oldest of nine brothers. Even in his youth, Chagall showed an interest in painting; and, at the age of 19, he went to work at the atelier of a local artist, Yejuda Pen. He also worked as a retoucher in a photographic studio, moving to St. Petersburg two years later and living hand to mouth while he looked for places to sell his artwork. He spent a brief period studying at the School of Fine Arts, where he was introduced to Leon Baskt, the designer of the Russian Ballet who would become Chagall’s teacher.

In 1910, a patron sponsored Chagall’s move to Paris; and, in 1911, he moved to a studio in “La Ruche” (The Beehive), an artist’s group in the Vaugirard district. There he was introduced to many figures that were prominent in the Parisian avant-garde such as poets Blaise Cendras and Guillaume Apollinaire, as well as artists Chaim Soutine, Fernand Leger and Robert Delaunay. His work during this time changed apropos to these environs. Before Paris, his style was rooted in realism, but his new works reflected an interest in Fauvism and Cubism. Works such as I and The Village and The Poet (both from 1910) show an experimental approach to his standard iconography of images taken from Jewish celebrations and childhood memories, as well as images of his soon-to-be wife, Bella Rosenfeld.

Chagall lived in Paris until 1914, at which time he returned to Vitsyebsk; and he soon divided his time between Vitsyebsk, Petrograd and Moscow. His painting style changed even more during these years, and he tempered his avant-garde work with more personal work. Chagall was recommended for the post of director of the plastic arts department at the Ministry of Culture in Moscow, but he preferred to work as the Commissar of Fine Arts and the director of the local art school in Vitsyebsk. In 1920, he left his posts to move to Moscow, where he worked as a scenographer and drawing instructor in camps for orphaned children.

In 1922, Chagall left Russia and moved to Berlin, then returned to Paris a year after that. He illustrated books for the art dealer Ambrose Vollard, including an edition of the Bible. He also participated in countless exhibits and traveled extensively. In 1934-1935, he traveled in Spain and was deeply moved by the works of El Greco. Chagall’s autobiography, My Life was published in 1931, and a retrospective of his work was held in 1933.

In 1941, with the outbreak of World War II and his subsequent Nazi persecution, Chagall was forced into exile in the United States. In 1944, Bella passed away, and the painter was unable to complete any work for over a year. When he resumed his painting, his palette of bright colors had turned to dark and sad tones. He returned to France after the war in 1948, moving to Saint-Paul-de-Venice, where he lived for the remainder of his life.

In 1952, he married Valentine “Vava” Brodsky, who became his inspiration and helped him complete projects such as his Biblical Message cycle of paintings that he finished in 1966 and which was installed in 1973 in the Museum of the Marc Chagall Biblical Message in Nice. He painted the ceiling of the Paris Opera in 1964 at the request of Charles de Gaulle and Andre Malraux and also executed murals for the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Marc Chagall died in 1985.

There are many good places to see Chagall’s work on the web. A page of his windows in the Hadassah Hebrew Medical Center is located at: http://www.md.huji.ac.il/special/chagall...

There is also an excellent gallery of Chagall images located at http://www.mcs.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Cha...

- Nick Burton