Bookmark
this Page - Ctrl+D
Marc
Chagall Biography
Marc
Chagall (1887 - 1985), Chagall was born in Vitebsk, Byelorussia to
a poor Hassidic family. The eldest of nine children, he studied first
in a heder before moving to a secular Russian school, where he began
to display his artistic talent. With his mother's support, and despite
his father's disapproval, Chagall pursued his interest in art, going
to St. Petersburg in 1907 to study art with Leon Bakst. Influenced
by contemporary Russian painting, Chagall's distinctive, child-like
style, often centering on images from his childhood, began to emerge.
From 1910 to 1914, Chagall lived in Paris, and there absorbed the
works of the leading cubist, surrealist, and fauvist painters. It
was during this period that Chagall painted some of his most famous
paintings of the Jewish shtetl or village, and developed the features
that became recognizable trademarks of his art. Strong and often bright
colors portray the world with a dreamlike, non-realistic simplicity,
and the fusion of fantasy, religion, and nostalgia infuses his work
with a joyous quality. Animals, workmen, lovers, and musicians populate
his figures; the "fiddler on the roof" recurs frequently,
often hovering within another scene. Chagall's work of this period
displays the influence of contemporary French painting, but his style
remains independent of any one school of art. He exhibited regularly
in the Salon des Independants. In 1914, before the outbreak of World
War I, Chagall held a one-man show in Berlin, exhibiting work dominated
by Jewish images and personages. During the war, he resided in Russia,
and in 1917, endorsing the revolution, he was appointed Commissar
for Fine Arts in Vitebsk and then director of the newly established
Free Academy of Art. The Bolshevik authorities, however, frowned upon
Chagall's style of art as too modern, and in 1922, Chagall left Russia,
settling in France one year later. He lived there permanently except
for the years 1941 - 1948 when, fleeing France during World War II,
he resided in the United States. Chagall's horror over the Nazi rise
to power is expressed in works depicting Jewish martyrs and Jewish
refugees. In addition to images of the Hassidic world, Chagall's paintings
are inspired by themes from the Bible. His fascination with the Bible
culminated in a series of over 100 etchings illustrating the Bible,
many of which incorporate elements from Jewish folklore and from religious
life in Vitebsk. Chagall's other illustrations include works by Gogol,
La Fontaine, Y. L. Peretz, and his autobiographical Ma Vie (1931;
My Life 1960) and Chagall by Chagall (1979). Chagall painted with
a variety of media, such as oils, water colors, and gouaches. His
work also expanded to other forms of art, including ceramics, mosaics,
and stained glass. Among his most famous building decorations are
the ceiling of the Opera House in Paris, murals at the New York Metropolitan
Opera, a glass window at the United Nations, and decorations at the
Vatican. Israel, which Chagall first visited in 1931 for the opening
of the Tel Aviv Art Museum, is likewise endowed with some of Chagall's
work, most notably the twelve stained glass windows at Hadassah Hospital
and wall decorations at the Knesset. Chagall received many prizes
and much recognition for his work. He was also one of very few artists
to exhibit work at the Louvre in their lifetime.
Marc Chagall Painting Gallery - Art Prints Secure
Online Purchase
To buy
Marc Chagall prints framed click
the Framed Link or Mounted
Link.
