Avant-garde artist Marc Chagall. Biography
Mark Zakharovich Chagall(fr. Marc Chagall; July 7, 1887, Vitebsk, Russian Empire (present-day Belarus) - March 28, 1985 Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Provence, France) - a Jewish artist who lived in Russia, France, America and yet remained a Jewish artist and retained his identity. Chagall created his own unique style of painting, and also made frescoes and stained glass windows, designed theatrical costumes and scenery, illustrated books and wrote them himself.
Features of the work of the artist Marc Chagall: National self-awareness, endless love for the objects depicted, his hometown of Vitebsk, visible through any Parisian or other landscape, flying people who became one of the symbols of Marc Chagall, and the greatest love of his life, his wife Bella, depicted in an infinite number of images. Bright colors, games with the laws of composition, images of animals.
The most famous paintings of Marc Chagall:“Over the city”, “Betrothed and the Eiffel Tower”, “Walk”, “Me and my village”, “Over Vitebsk”
“In our life, as in the artist’s palette, there is only one color that can give meaning to life and art - the color of love,” wrote Marc Chagall in his book “My Life.” All his paintings are filled with this color, just as his life was filled with it. Talking about Marc Chagall in isolation from his love, from those whom he loved and whom he breathed, transferring this to canvas, would be a dry listing of facts.
Waiting for love
Moses Chagall was born in Vitebsk on July 6, 1887 in the family of a clerk. The world greeted the future genius with the flames of a bonfire - a fire was burning in the city. He would later call red the color of nightmare. Above his newspaper seller, foreshadowing war, the sky burns scarlet.The father dreamed that his son would become a good accountant, or, in extreme cases, a clerk. And Chagall painted, painted, painted. One day a friend came to see him, looked at the walls of the room, thickly hung with drawings, and exclaimed: “You are a real artist!” Artist... This word seemed to come from another world. A world that attracted Moses Chagall more than anything in the world. Long exhausting scandals and persuasion led to the fact that he was sent to study at the School of Drawing and Painting by the artist Yudel Peng.
It quickly became clear that it would not be possible to limit ourselves to Peng - that was not enough. The modesty of the aspiring artist did not constrain him. At the age of 15, Moses Chagall sincerely considered himself a genius. He believed that only Rembrandt could truly teach him something. But where can you get it, Rembrandt?
Obstinate, definitely no longer an accountant to the delight of his parents, Chagall begs his father for money and leaves for St. Petersburg - there is the Academy of Arts, there is paradise! Reality dealt the young talent a hard blow to his vanity. He failed the first and last official exam in his life.
In 1909, Chagall returned to Vitebsk. Disappointed, devastated, unable to find what he was looking for and unable to join any schools. He writes about this time: “I wandered the streets, looking for something and praying: “Lord, you who hide in the clouds or behind the cobbler’s house, make my soul manifest, the poor soul of a stuttering boy. Show me my way. I don’t want to be like others, I want to see the world in my own way.”
At the same time, Bertha Rosenfeld returned to Vitebsk from St. Petersburg, who will go down in art history as Bella Chagall. She dreamed of becoming an actress; she was predicted to succeed. But a serious injury during a rehearsal put an end to her acting career.
Chagall's Eternal Love
At the time of the meeting in Vitebsk, both considered themselves losers. According to one version, they accidentally crossed paths and started talking on the bridge over Vitba. According to another, we met at the home of Bertha’s friend, Thea Brachman.Thea had an affair with Chagall and posed nude for him. It was from her that the sensual “Seated Red Nude” was written.
It is not so important where the meeting took place, what is more important is that it struck both of them to the very heart.
“It’s as if we’ve known each other for a long time and she knows everything about me: my childhood, my current life and what will happen to me; as if she was always watching me, was somewhere nearby, although I saw her for the first time. And I realized: this is my wife.", Chagall recalled.
Later he would write that after meeting Bella, a feeling of confidence settled in him forever. Chagall returns to St. Petersburg and enrolls in a course with Leon Bakst. He is fascinated by Bakst. According to some reports, Bakst not only took Chagall to school, but also paid for his accommodation at the school, appreciating the young man’s extraordinary talent. It was Bakst who opened a personal “window to Europe” for Marc Chagall.
In 1910, the teacher left for Paris, which caused Chagall to despair in advance. “I would also like to go to Paris”, he decides to say. Bakst supports this idea, believing that there are no prospects for Chagall’s talent in Russia, and helps him with the move.
Paris! Shy Moishe Chagall disappears forever. His place is now and forever taken by curly-haired, dapper Mark. Later he will say that only in Paris can one be an artist. Spends every free minute in the Louvre: “I could breathe the easiest in the Louvre. There I was surrounded by long-gone friends.” Chagall himself noted that, in addition to Rembrandt, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Renoir, and Delacroix made a special impression on the formation of his brush.
In France, Chagall gains freedom. He no longer tries to fit in with anyone or anything. The main thing begins: a symphony of color, poetry of the brush, a violation of all the laws of physics and gravity. Everyone who tried to teach Chagall noted that he was a terrible student. He did not know how to study, he wanted to be only himself and write exclusively the way he wanted.
Chagall is in love with Paris. However, when he wants to especially note how dear this city is to his heart, he says: “Paris , you are my Vitebsk!”. In the painting “Me and My Village,” Chagall’s profile from Paris faces Vitebsk.
In 1914, he went to Vitebsk for his sister’s wedding, soon followed by his own wedding - a new meeting with Bertha left no doubt: this was fate.
Marc Chagall painted several portraits of his wife from life. And about three thousand paintings, drawings, sketches, in which her image is somehow depicted in flying women.
In 1916, the happy couple had a daughter, Ida. Meanwhile, other forces come into play. Russia is shaken by cataclysms. Chagall was among those who were initially inspired by the new government. He is no longer ordered by pompous academicians from the Academy of Arts that rejected him. And the social gap between the jeweler’s daughter and the clerk’s son collapsed. Captivated by what seemed to be fresh changes at the time, Marc Chagall even held the post of commissioner for arts affairs in the Vitebsk province for some time.
For the first anniversary of October, Chagall was commissioned to decorate the city. Vitebsk was surrounded by endless fences. More than a hundred city painters, under the direction of Marc Chagall, painted fences, walls and everything that could be painted on. The world has never seen graffiti like this before.
The avant-garde is taking the lead; Chagall seems to have found his place. He organized the School of Arts in Vitebsk and tried to teach there. The idea failed. He wanted his students to discover their talent just like him. And teaching technical aspects seemed too boring to him. Then a confrontation arose between Marc Chagall and Kazimir Malevich. The founder of Suprematism intended to mold his students not into geniuses, but into professionals. And indeed, a couple of months later an exhibition of paintings by Malevich’s students was held at the Tretyakov Gallery. Chagall felt increasingly cramped. Instead of rejected foundations, new frameworks appear, beyond which it is not recommended to go. “We are ours, we will build a new world,” abstractionism and the denial of previous values rule the show, and Chagall at this time paints some flowers, women, Vitebsk... He is reproached for his adherence to outdated forms and is called an “old-novator.” Bella talks more and more persistently about emigration.
Chagall and his wife leave first for Moscow, then for Berlin. And finally, 1923 - Paris! Here he will “baptize” Bertha into Bella. He is happy here, successful, in demand, writes a lot. In the paintings, as always, Bella and her beloved Vitebsk are present.
The only teacher whom Chagall recognized, Leon Bakst, finds the artist and says: “Now your colors are singing”. This is success.
Meanwhile, Europe is going crazy. Hitler came to power. The Chagalls leave Paris at the last moment, when the city is already occupied. On June 22, Germany declares war on the Soviet Union, and Marc Chagall and Bella see the Statue of Liberty... He is well received in America, but his heart yearns for Europe.
In 1944, Paris was liberated. Bella is in a hurry to leave. A few days before her planned return, she becomes ill. She rapidly develops a viral disease, and literally in Chagall’s arms, his Muse dies.
Virginia. Couldn't get distracted
It seems to Marc Chagall that he will never again pick up a brush and touch the canvas. Why all this when the main character of his paintings and his life left him?For nine long months Marc Chagall does not write, does not sleep, does not eat and barely breathes. His daughter Ida pulled him out. First, she enticed her father to work on illustrations for Bella’s book of memoirs, “Burning Lights,” and then hired him a nurse - an amazingly beautiful woman, with a face similar to her mother. Virginia Haggard is more than 20 years younger than Chagall. Soon she gave birth to his son David.
In 1947, Chagall and Virginia returned to Paris. But very soon she, taking her son, runs away with a photographer who came to their house to make material about the brilliant artist...
Marc Chagall's last love
While all art critics treat Bella with trepidation, Marc Chagall’s last companion, Valentina Brodskaya, was much less fortunate. Vava, as her friends and relatives called her, shone in Parisian society. Ida introduced them again, trying to inspire her father. In 1952, Vava became Chagall’s wife and at the same time the enemy of many art critics.She is reproached for having “taken over” the artist and bossing him around. Vava is blamed for the “clipped wings” of Marc Chagall. Some researchers contrast Bella and Vava on this principle: Bella was the muse and inspiration, and Vava was the manager. They say that because of her, Chagall ruined his relationships with almost all his close people, but became a very expensive and sought-after artist.
Andrei Voznesensky's widow Zoya Boguslavskaya does not agree with this version. She notes that she regularly visited Marc Chagall and Vava, but did not notice the despotism and importunity attributed to the artist’s wife. But Vava succeeded in surrounding the genius with comfort and protecting him from everything that could interfere with his creativity.
Today there is no clear answer to who Marc Chagall’s last love was. But maybe we should listen to the artist’s words: “Thank God , Vava is near me. She outshines all the women of Vitebsk with her beauty”?
And most importantly, Chagall writes a lot again, including Vava. If the background for Bella's images was their native Vitebsk, then the artist depicts Vava in Paris. To ensure that there is absolutely no doubt, both the Eiffel Tower and the Paris Opera are visible in Vava’s portrait. Paris - you are my second Vitebsk, wrote Chagall. Perhaps Vava became his second Bella? “I only see you, living for me”, - this is about the second wife.
Having so easily and forever abolished the laws of gravity in his paintings, Chagall, whose people fly as easily as they breathe, died in the elevator of his building. Taking off from the ground. The way only he could do it.
Marc Chagall. Above the city. 1918, Moscow
The paintings of Marc Chagall (1887-1985) are surreal and unique. His early work “Above the City” is no exception.
The main characters, Marc Chagall himself and his beloved Bella, are flying over their native Vitebsk (Belarus).
Chagall portrayed the most pleasant feeling in the world. The feeling of mutual love. When you can't feel the ground under your feet. When you become one with your loved one. When you don't notice anything around. When you just fly with happiness.
Background of the picture
When Chagall began painting Above the City in 1914, he and Bella had known each other for 5 years. But 4 of which they spent apart.
He is the son of a poor Jewish laborer. She is the daughter of a rich jeweler. At the time of meeting, a completely unsuitable candidate for an enviable bride.
He went to Paris to study and make a name for himself. He returned and achieved his goal. They married in 1915.
This is happiness that Chagall wrote. The happiness of being with the love of your life. Despite the difference in social status. Despite the family's protests.
The main characters of the picture
With the flight everything is more or less clear. But you may wonder why lovers don't look at each other.
Perhaps because Chagall depicted the souls of happy people, not their bodies. And in fact, bodies cannot fly. But souls may well.
Marc Chagall. Above the city (fragment). 1918 Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
And souls do not have to look at each other. The main thing for them is to feel unity. Here we see him. Each soul has one hand, as if they really had almost merged into a single whole.
He, as a bearer of a stronger masculine principle, is written more roughly. In a cubic manner. Bella is femininely graceful and woven from rounded and smooth lines.
And the heroine is dressed in soft blue. But it does not merge with the sky, because it is gray.
The couple stands out well against the background of such a sky. And it seems as if it is very natural to fly above the ground.
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Image of the city
It seems that we see all the signs of a town, or rather a large village, which Vitebsk was 100 years ago. There is a temple and houses here. And an even more pompous building with columns. And, of course, a lot of fences.
Marc Chagall. Above the city (detail). 1918 Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow But still the city is somehow different. The houses are deliberately skewed, as if the artist does not know perspective and geometry. A sort of childish approach.
This makes the town more fabulous and toy-like. Strengthens our feeling of being in love.
Indeed, in this state the world around is significantly distorted. Everything becomes more joyful. And a lot of things are not noticed at all. The lovers don't even notice the green goat.
Why is a goat green?
Marc Chagall loved the color green. Which is not surprising. After all, this is the color of life, youth. And the artist was a person with a positive worldview. Just look at his phrase “Life is an obvious miracle.”
He was a Hasidic Jew by origin. And this is a special worldview that is instilled from birth. It is based on cultivating joy. Hasidim should even pray joyfully.
Therefore, it is not surprising that he depicted himself in a green shirt. And the goat in the background is green.
Marc Chagall. Fragment with a green goat in the painting “Above the City.” In other paintings he even has green faces. So a green goat is not the limit.
Marc Chagall. Green violinist (fragment). 1923-1924 Guggenheim Museum, New York But this does not mean that if it is a goat, it must be green. Chagall has a self-portrait where he paints the same landscape as in the painting “Above the City.”
And there is a red goat. The painting was created in 1917, and red, the color of the revolution that had just broken out, penetrates the artist’s palette.
Marc Chagall. Self-portrait with a palette. 1917 Private collection Why are there so many fences
The fences are surreal. They don't frame yards as they should. And they stretch in an endless line, like rivers or roads.
There were actually a lot of fences in Vitebsk. But, of course, they simply surrounded the houses. But Chagall decided to place them in a row, thereby highlighting them. Making them almost a symbol of the city.
It’s impossible not to mention this shameless guy under the fence.
It’s like you look at the picture first. And feelings of romance and airiness cover you. Even a green goat doesn’t spoil the pleasant impression much.
And suddenly the gaze stumbles upon a man in an indecent pose. The feeling of idyll begins to disappear.
Marc Chagall. Detail of the painting “Above the City.” Why does the artist deliberately add a fly in the ointment to the barrel of honey?
Because Chagall is not a storyteller. Yes, the world of lovers is distorted and becomes like a fairy tale. But this is still life, with its ordinary and mundane moments.
And there is also a place for humor in this life. It's harmful to take everything too seriously.
Why is Chagall so unique?
To understand Chagall, it is important to understand him as a person. And his character was special. He was an easy-going, easy-going, talkative person.
He loved life. Believed in true love. He knew how to be happy.
And he really managed to be happy.
Lucky, many will say. I don't think it's a matter of luck. And in a special attitude. He was open to the world and trusted this world. Therefore, willy-nilly, he attracted the right people, the right customers.
Hence the happy marriage with his first wife Bella. Successful emigration and recognition in Paris. A long, very long life (the artist lived for almost 100 years).
Of course, one can recall the very unpleasant story with Malevich, who literally “took away” Chagall’s school in 1920. Having lured all his students with very bright speeches about Suprematism*.
This is also why the artist and his family left for Europe.
But Malevich unwittingly saved him. And failure turned into success. Imagine what happened to Chagall and his green goats after 1932, when socialist realism was recognized as the only true painting.
Marc Chagall. Birthday. 1915 Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York, USA Having at least a little idea of what Chagall was like, you begin to understand his amazing works. His passion is for flying. And at the same time his painting “Above the City”.
In contact with
artist and poet
Mark Zakharovich Chagall(fr. Marc Chagall, Yiddish מאַרק שאַגאַל ; 07/6/1887, Liozno, Vitebsk province - 03/28/1985, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Provence) - Russian and French artist, graphic artist, painter, stage designer and poet (Yiddish) of Jewish origin, one of the most famous representatives of the artistic avant-garde XX century.
Biography
Childhood
Art Center of Marc Chagall. Vitebsk
House-Museum of Marc Chagall. Vitebsk
Moshe Segal was born on June 24 (July 6), 1887 into a Jewish family in the town of Liozno near Vitebsk (40 km to the west) or (according to other sources) in Vitebsk itself, within the Jewish Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire. . He grew up in a religious Hasidic family, was the eldest of nine children; according to the artist’s recollections, his father changed his surname to “Chagall”.
Both his father, Khatskl-Mordhe (in Russian Khatskel-Mordukh), and his mother, Feige-Ite, came from the town of Liozno, and Moshe spent a significant part of his childhood in his grandfather’s house in this town. From 1900 to 1905 Chagall studied at the Vitebsk four-year school. In Vitebsk, the artist meets his future wife, his only muse, Bella Rosenfeld. Bella came from a family of wealthy Vitebsk jewelers.
In 1906, he entered the I. Peng School of Drawing and Painting in Vitebsk, and at the same time worked as a retoucher in a photo studio. In 1907 he left for St. Petersburg, received temporary permission to stay there and entered the Drawing School of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Arts, headed by N. Roerich. He worked as a tutor in a lawyer's family to earn money and as an apprentice in a sign workshop to obtain a craftsman's certificate, which gave him the right to live in the capital. In 1908, Chagall moved to the art school of E. N. Zvantseva, where he studied with L. Bakst and M. Dobuzhinsky.
In 1910, Chagall first participated in an exhibition of student works in the editorial office of the Apollo magazine. In the same year, thanks to State Duma member M. Vinaver, who bought paintings from him and assigned him a salary for the period of study, Chagall left for Paris. He rented a studio in the famous refuge of Parisian bohemia “La Ruche” (“The Beehive”), where in those years many young avant-garde artists, mostly emigrants, lived and worked: A. Modigliani, O. Zadkine, a little later - H. Soutine and others . Chagall quickly entered the circle of the Parisian literary and artistic avant-garde. In 1911–13 his works were exhibited at the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Indépendants in Paris, and at the Der Sturm gallery in Berlin. In addition, Chagall took part in exhibitions of art associations in Russia (“World of Art”, 1912, St. Petersburg; “Donkey’s Tail”, 1912, Moscow; “Target”, 1913, Moscow, and others). In 1914, with the assistance of G. Apollinaire, the first personal exhibition of Chagall was held at the Der Sturm gallery. After its opening, Chagall left for Vitebsk; Due to the outbreak of the First World War, he was unable, as expected, to return to Paris and remained in Russia until 1922.
In 1915, Chagall married Bella Rosenfeld, the daughter of a famous Vitebsk jeweler, who played a huge role in his life and work; Chagall himself considered her his muse. Soon after the wedding, Chagall was drafted into the army and sent to Petrograd, where he did clerical work, avoiding being sent to the front. He was engaged in painting, maintained relationships with artists and poets who lived in Petrograd, participated in exhibitions (“Jack of Diamonds”, 1916, Moscow; “Spring Exhibition of Contemporary Russian Painting”, 1916, St. Petersburg; “Exhibition of the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Arts”, 1916, Moscow, and others).
Return to Vitebsk
In 1917, Chagall again left for Vitebsk. Like many other artists, he enthusiastically accepted the October Revolution and was actively involved in organizing the new cultural life of Russia. In 1918, Chagall became the commissar of arts of the provincial department of Naroobraz of Vitebsk and in the same year developed a project for a grandiose festive decoration of the streets and squares of Vitebsk in connection with the anniversary of the October Revolution. At the beginning of 1919, he organized and headed the Vitebsk People's Art School, where he invited I. Pan, M. Dobuzhinsky, I. Puni, E. Lisitsky, K. Malevich and other artists as teachers.
Moscow
Soon, fundamental disagreements arose between him and Malevich regarding the tasks of art and teaching methods. These disagreements grew into open conflict, and at the beginning of 1920 Chagall left school and went to Moscow, where, on the recommendation of A. M. Efros, he worked at the Jewish Chamber Theater, whose director was A. Granovsky. Over the years, Chagall designed the play “The Evening of Shalom Aleichem” based on his one-act plays “Agentn” (“Agents”), “Mazltov!” (“Congratulations!”) and created several picturesque panels for the theater foyer. Chagall also collaborated with the Habima Theater, which at that time was headed by E. Vakhtangov.
In 1921, Chagall taught painting at the Jewish orphanage-colony for street children named after the Third International in Malakhovka, not far from Moscow. He continued to participate in exhibitions (1st State Free Exhibition of Works of Art, 1918, Petrograd; 1st State Exhibition of Paintings by Local and Moscow Artists, 1919, Vitebsk). In 1921–22 took an active part in Jewish artistic life - he was a member of the Art Section of the Cultural League in Moscow (a joint exhibition with N. Alterman and D. Shterenberg, organized by the section, took place in the spring of 1922 in Moscow). Chagall also held two personal exhibitions (1919, Petrograd and 1921, Moscow).
In 1922, Chagall finally decided to leave Russia and went first to Kaunas to organize his exhibition, and then to Berlin, where, at the request of the publisher P. Cassirer, he completed a series of etchings and engravings for the autobiographical book “My Life” (an album of engravings without text was published in Berlin in 1923; the first edition of the text “My Life” appeared in Yiddish in the magazine “Tsukunft”, March–June 1925; the text of the book “My Life”, illustrated with early drawings, was published in Paris in 1931; in Russian in translated from French, M., 1994).
Return to France
At the end of 1923, Chagall settled in Paris, where he met many avant-garde poets and artists - P. Eluard, A. Malraux, M. Ernst, as well as A. Vollard, a philanthropist and publisher, who ordered him illustrations, including to the Bible. Starting to work on biblical drawings, Chagall went to the Middle East in 1931. At the invitation of M. Dizengoff, Chagall visited Eretz Israel; During the trip, he worked a lot and wrote a significant number of sketches of “biblical” landscapes. Then he visited Egypt. Chagall constantly maintained close ties with Jewish writers and figures of national culture.
In 1924 he participated in the almanac “Halyastra”, published by P. Markish and others (see also U. Ts. Grinberg). In the 1920s–30s. Chagall traveled in connection with personal exhibitions (1922, Berlin; 1924, Brussels and Paris; 1926, New York; 1930s, Paris, Berlin, Cologne, Amsterdam, Prague and others), and also studied classical art.
In 1933, his retrospective exhibition was opened in Basel. In the same year, in Mannheim, on the orders of Goebbels, a public burning of Chagall’s works was organized, and in 1937–39. his works were exhibited at “Degenerate Art” exhibitions in Munich, Berlin, Hamburg and other German cities. In 1937, Chagall accepted French citizenship.
Emigration to the USA
At the beginning of World War II, due to the occupation of France, Chagall and his family left Paris for the south of the country; in 1941, at the invitation of the Museum of Modern Art, he moved to New York. Many personal and retrospective exhibitions of Chagall took place in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities.
M. Chagall (center) among the teachers of the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts. Jerusalem
In 1942, Chagall designed the ballet “Aleko” to the music of P. Tchaikovsky in Mexico City, and in 1945, “The Firebird” by I. Stravinsky at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Chagall's wife Bella died in 1944; her memoirs “Burning Candles” with illustrations by Chagall were published posthumously in 1946. In 1946, a retrospective exhibition of Chagall was held in New York, and in 1947, for the first time after the war, in Paris; it was followed by exhibitions in Amsterdam, London and other European cities. In 1948, Chagall returned to France and settled near Paris (in 1952 he married Valentina Brodskaya). In 1948, at the 24th Venice Biennale, Chagall was awarded the Grand Prix for his engraving.
In 1951, Chagall visited Israel in connection with the opening of his retrospective exhibition at the museum at the Bezalel School in Jerusalem, and also visited Tel Aviv and Haifa. The following trips to Israel took place in 1957, 1962, 1969, 1977. The visit in 1969 was associated with the opening of the new Knesset building, for which Chagall designed decorative floors, carpets and wall mosaics. (In 1977, Chagall was awarded the title of honorary citizen of Jerusalem.)
Since the 1950s Chagall worked primarily as a muralist and graphic artist; in 1950 he began working in ceramics, in 1951 he made his first sculptural works, from 1957 he worked on stained glass, and from 1964 on mosaics and tapestries. Chagall created frescoes for the foyer of the Watergate Theater in London (1949), a ceramic panel "The Crossing of the Red Sea" and stained glass windows for the church in Assy (1957), stained glass windows for the cathedrals in Metz, Reims and Zurich (1958–60), stained glass windows " The Twelve Tribes of Israel" for the synagogue of the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem (1960–62), the ceiling at the Grand Opera in Paris (1964), mosaic panels for the UN building (1964) and the Metropolitan Opera (1966) in New York, and others.
In 1967, the Louvre hosted an exhibition of Chagall’s works, united in the cycle “Biblical Images”. In 1973, the National Museum “Biblical Images of Marc Chagall”, founded in 1969, was opened in Nice. Also in 1973, Chagall visited Russia (Leningrad and Moscow) for the first time after emigration, where an exhibition of his lithographs was opened for the artist’s arrival, and wall panels made in 1920 for the foyer of the Jewish Chamber Theater and considered lost. Chagall confirmed the authenticity of the panels by signing them. Since the 1950s In the largest galleries and exhibition halls of the world, exhibitions of Chagall’s works were held, retrospective or dedicated to any theme or genre (1953, Turin and Vienna; 1955, Hanover; 1957, graphic exhibitions - Basel, Paris; 1963, in several cities in Japan; 1969, 1970, 1977–78, 1984, Paris; 1984, Nice, Rome, Basel, and others).
Chagall died on March 28, 1985 in the Provençal city of Saint-Paul-de-Vence. He was buried in the local cemetery. After Chagall's death, many of his exhibitions also took place (1987, Moscow; 1989, Tokyo; 1991, Frankfurt am Main, Moscow; 1992–93, St. Petersburg, Florence, Ferrara, New York, Chicago; 1993, Jerusalem, and other).
Chagall's creativity
Chagall's works are in the largest museums in the world.
Chagall's pictorial system was formed under the influence of various factors, paradoxically and at the same time organically rethought and forming a single whole. In addition to Russian art (including iconography and primitive painting) and French art of the early 20th century, one of the defining elements of this system is Chagall’s national Jewish self-awareness, which for him is inextricably linked with his vocation.
"If I were not a Jew, as I understand it, I would not be an artist or would be a completely different artist", he formulated his position in one of his essays.
From his first teacher I. Peng, Chagall adopted the idea of a national artist; the national temperament found expression in the peculiarities of his figurative structure. Already in Chagall’s first independent works, the visionary nature of his work is clearly manifested: reality, transformed by the artist’s imagination, acquires the features of a fantastic vision. However, all surreal images - violinists on the roof, green cows, heads separated from their bodies, people flying in the sky - are not the arbitrariness of unbridled fantasy, they contain a clear logic, a specific “message”. Chagall's artistic techniques are based on the visualization of Yiddish sayings and the embodiment of images of Jewish folklore. Chagall introduces elements of Jewish interpretation even into the depiction of Christian subjects (The Holy Family, 1910, Chagall Museum; Homage to Christ / Calvary /, 1912, Museum of Modern Art, New York) - a principle to which he remained faithful to the end life.
The beginning of the journey, Paris
In the first years of his creative work, the setting of his works is Vitebsk - a street, a square, a house (“The Dead”, 1908, Center Pompidou, Paris). During this period, the landscapes of Vitebsk and scenes from the life of the community contain features of the grotesque. They are reminiscent of theatrical mise-en-scenes, subordinated to a precisely calibrated rhythm. The color scheme of early works is mainly based on green and brown tones with the presence of purple; the format of the paintings approaches a square (“Shabbat”, 1910, Museum Ludwig, Cologne).
The first period of his stay in Paris (1910–14) played an important role in Chagall’s work: the artist came into contact with new artistic movements, of which Cubism and Futurism undoubtedly had a direct influence on him; to an even greater extent we can talk about the influence of the atmosphere of artistic Paris of those years. It was during these years and in the “Russian period” that followed that the basic principles of Chagall’s art were formed, running through all of his work, and constant symbolic types and characters were determined. There are few purely cubist or purely futuristic works by Chagall, although they can be found throughout the 1910s. (“Adam and Eve”, 1912, Art Museum, St. Louis, USA). Chagall's style of this time can be defined rather as cubo-futurist, which was one of the important trends in the art of the Jewish avant-garde in Russia. Sharp ratios of yellow, red, blue, green and violet form the basis of Chagall's color scheme; they are often combined with black, sometimes making up the background (“Paris through my window”, 1913, S. Guggenheim Museum, New York; “The Drinking Soldier”, 1911, ibid.; “Loving Couple”, 1913, Center Pompidou, Paris) . The main themes of this period are the artist and art, on the one hand, and the fantastically real Jewish world, on the other (“Homage to Apollinaire”, 1911–12, Van Abbemuseum Kunstmuseum, Eindhoven; “The Burning House”, 1913, S. Guggenheim Museum , NY).
Russian period (1914–22)
Chagall's themes and style are varied - from sketches of Vitebsk and portraits of loved ones to symbolic compositions ("Mother on the Sofa", 1914, private collection; "Reclining Poet", 1915, Tate Gallery, London; "Above the City", 1914–18, Tretyakov Gallery , Moscow); from searches in the field of spatial forms (“Cubist Landscape”, 1918; “Collage”, 1921, both - Center Pompidou, Paris) to works where the main role is played by the symbolism of color, in which the influence of Jewish tradition and impressions of works of ancient Russian art is felt ( “Jew in Red”, 1916, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). The avant-garde orientation was especially clearly manifested in the graphics of those years (“Movement”, 1921, ink, Center Pompidou, Paris) and in works related to the theater: in the panel “Jewish Theater” (1920, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) complex symbolism was developed, including elements of Jewish tradition, encrypted comments on theatrical behind-the-scenes events, Chagall's declaration on the tasks of the Jewish theater, etc.
Return to France
The first years after returning to Paris were the calmest in Chagall's life and work. It seemed that the artist was summing up his life; He, in particular, worked on an illustrated autobiographical book. Almost until the end of the 1920s. Chagall worked mainly in graphics - book illustrations for “Dead Souls” by N. Gogol (1923–27, published in 1948) and “Fables” by J. Lafontaine (1926–30, published in 1952). These illustrations are the least “Jewish” in Chagall’s entire work; in them one feels a passion for old European art, which is manifested in everything: different types compared to previous works, different iconography, nude figures; The very nature of graphics changes. In the illustrations for Long's Daphnis and Chloe, Chagall returned to his more characteristic style.
During these years, Chagall continued to paint and wrote many sketches from nature (“Ida at the Window”, 1924, City Museum, Amsterdam). His palette brightened and became more variegated, his compositions abounded in detail. Chagall returned to his old works, creating variations on their themes (Reader, 1923–26, Kunstmuseum, Basel; Birthday, 1923, S. Guggenheim Museum, New York).
The following decades were filled with dramatic historical events; in addition, Chagall suffered a personal tragedy - the death of his wife in 1944. The elegiac mood characteristic of Chagall’s early works, especially the “Russian period”, was replaced by a premonition of the tragedy that soon broke out (“Time is a river without banks”, 1930–39, Museum of Modern art, New York).
At the end of the 1930s. the feeling of the impending Catastrophe found expression in “Crucifixions” (“White Crucifixion”, 1938, Art Institute, Chicago; “Martyr”, 1940, family collection). The composition and color scheme of these works goes back to the Russian icon, but "all - Museum "Biblical Images of Chagall", Nice). Chagall's paintings of the late period, associated with biblical themes, are characterized by expression and tragedy (Moses Breaking the Tablets, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne).
Chagall’s monumental works, both on religious themes and dedicated to the theater, are stylistically close to “Biblical Images,” but the specificity of the technique - the luminosity of stained glass windows, the dull shimmer of mosaics, the deep tones of carpets - gave the artist additional opportunities. In addition, symbolism, which always played a large role in Chagall’s works, was especially carefully thought out in the artist’s monumental works on religious themes. Thus, the very arrangement of stained glass windows in the Hadassah synagogue - four groups of three stained glass windows each - is dictated by the location of the twelve tribes of Israel around the Tabernacle of the Covenant at a rest stop in the Sinai desert, and the colors used in the stained glass windows are determined by the colors of 12 stones (according to the number of tribes) that decorated the clothes high priest
Painting by Chagall from the 1970s–80s. also includes lyrical works that return the artist to the past - to the image of the town, to memories of loved ones (“Rest”, 1975; “Bride with a Bouquet”, 1977, both - P. Matisse Gallery, New York). Made in oil, they resemble pastels - blurred contours, a multi-colored haze create a feeling of a ghostly vision-mirage.
Literature
Throughout his life, Chagall wrote poetry, first in Yiddish and Russian, and then in French. Some of them were translated into Hebrew, Belarusian, Russian, English and French. Chagall's lyrics are permeated with Jewish motifs; in it one can find responses to the tragic events of Jewish history - for example, the poem “In Memory of Jewish Artists - Victims of the Holocaust.”
Many of Chagall's poems are a kind of key to understanding his painting. (A selection of Chagall’s poems - translated from Yiddish and written in Russian - was published in the collection M. Chagall. “Angel over the roofs. Poems, prose, articles, letters”, M., 1989).
Memory
Chagall did not leave behind a school; he was one of a kind - a great Jewish artist who organically combined the artistic language of the 20th century in his work. with the worldview of a Hasid, who feels the sacredness of everyday life and considers miracles a natural and indispensable part of life.
There is a “Chagall Committee”, which consists of four heirs of Chagall. There is no complete catalog of the artist’s works.
Chagall is one of the few artists who shaped an entire era in art. It is difficult to name a person who has not at least heard about this great man with incredible imagination and a unique vision of his place in painting. Until now, Chagall is a unique phenomenon, the level of which no one has yet managed to even come close to.
The future recognized leader of avant-garde art was born on the outskirts of Vitebsk, which was one of the small towns of the Russian province, in 1887. This was a time of mass persecution of foreigners and terrible Jewish pogroms, which caused mass emigration of the Jewish population to other countries, with a more loyal attitude towards representatives of the Jewish faith. But for little Movshe all this was ahead. He received a traditional education for Jewish children, studying the Torah, Talmud and mastering the Hebrew language. After graduating from four classes at the school, Chagall studied the art of painting in Vitebsk at the school of Yudel Pan.
Realizing that his talent could not be developed on the periphery, the artist decided to move to St. Petersburg, the then center of artistic thought. The father reluctantly lets him go, allocating a very meager amount and refusing to help his son financially in the future. In the city, Chagall studied at Roerich's school, and then at Bakst's. At this time, Mark meets Bella Rosenfeld, who until the end of his life remains his muse and beloved woman, whose face is recognizable in literally every image created by the master.
In 1911, a period in the artist’s life began, during which he was constantly thrown from one city and country to another. Having changed his Jewish name Movshe Khatskelevich to the more European-sounding Mark Zakharovich, he left on a scholarship to study in, returning home to Vitebsk in 1914 and just arriving at the beginning of the First World War. The following year he marries Bella, and a year later their daughter Ida is born. She subsequently becomes a biographer and researcher of her father's work. At the end of the revolution, Chagall became Commissioner for Arts in the Vitebsk province and opened his own art school.
In 1920, he moved to Lithuania and began working on the design of theatrical performances, and in 1922 he went to Lithuania for his own exhibition with his family. Then Chagall's journey to the West begins. He moved to, and then to, where he received citizenship in 1937. However, in 1941 the family has to flee from the impending fascism in the United States, where Bella dies in 1944. She was not the last woman in the artist’s life, but until the moment of his death she remained his love and eternal muse.
Since the 60s, Marc Chagall became interested in large forms and monumental art. His area of interest included paintings, including ceiling paintings, tapestries and stained glass windows. Over the years, the master created many significant things, including painting the ceiling of the Opera Garnier in France and panels for the Metropolitan Opera, mosaics for the National Bank in the USA.
Marc Zakharovich Chagall lived a great life and left a significant mark on avant-garde art. He died at the age of 98, until the end of his life remembering his origin and weaving motifs from the life of his native Vitebsk into his works.
Mark Zakharovich (Moses Khatskelevich) Chagall (French Marc Chagall, Yiddish מאַרק שאַגאַל). Born July 7, 1887 in Vitebsk, Vitebsk province (now Vitebsk region, Belarus) - died March 28, 1985 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Provence, France. Russian, Belarusian and French artist of Jewish origin. In addition to graphics and painting, he was also involved in scenography and wrote poetry in Yiddish. One of the most famous representatives of the artistic avant-garde of the 20th century.
Movsha Khatskelevich (later Moses Khatskelevich and Mark Zakharovich) Chagall was born on June 24 (July 6), 1887 in the Peskovatik area on the outskirts of Vitebsk, was the eldest child in the family of clerk Khatskel Mordukhovich (Davidovich) Chagall (1863-1921) and his wife Feiga-Ita Mendelevna Chernina (1871-1915). He had one brother and five sisters.
The parents married in 1886 and were each other's first cousins.
The artist’s grandfather, Dovid Yeselevich Chagall (in documents also Dovid-Mordukh Ioselevich Sagal, 1824 - ?), came from the town of Babinovichi, Mogilev province, and in 1883 settled with his sons in the town of Dobromysli, Orsha district, Mogilev province, so in the “Lists of real estate owners property of the city of Vitebsk”, the artist’s father Khatskel Mordukhovich Chagall is recorded as a “dobromyslyansky tradesman”; the artist's mother came from Liozno.
Since 1890, the Chagall family owned a wooden house on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street in the 3rd part of Vitebsk (significantly expanded and rebuilt in 1902 with eight apartments for rent). Marc Chagall also spent a significant part of his childhood in the house of his maternal grandfather Mendel Chernin and his wife Basheva (1844 - ?), the artist’s paternal grandmother), who by that time lived in the town of Liozno, 40 km from Vitebsk.
He received a traditional Jewish education at home, studying Hebrew, the Torah and the Talmud.
From 1898 to 1905, Chagall studied at the 1st Vitebsk four-year school.
In 1906 he studied fine arts at the art school of the Vitebsk painter Yudel Pan, then moved to St. Petersburg.
In St. Petersburg, for two seasons, Chagall studied at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, which was headed by N.K. Roerich (he was accepted into the school without an exam for the third year).
In 1909-1911 he continued studying with L. S. Bakst at the private art school of E. N. Zvantseva. Thanks to his Vitebsk friend Victor Mekler and Thea Brakhman, the daughter of a Vitebsk doctor who also studied in St. Petersburg, Marc Chagall entered the circle of young intelligentsia, passionate about art and poetry.
Thea Brahman was an educated and modern girl, she posed nude for Chagall several times.
In the autumn of 1909, during her stay in Vitebsk, Thea introduced Marc Chagall to her friend Bertha (Bella) Rosenfeld, who at that time studied at one of the best educational institutions for girls - the Guerrier School in Moscow. This meeting turned out to be decisive in the fate of the artist. The love theme in Chagall's work is invariably associated with the image of Bella. From the canvases of all periods of his work, including the later one (after Bella’s death), her “bulging black eyes” look at us. Her features are recognizable in the faces of almost all the women he depicts.
In 1911, Chagall went to Paris with the scholarship he received, where he continued to study and met avant-garde artists and poets living in the French capital. Here he first began to use the personal name Mark. In the summer of 1914, the artist came to Vitebsk to meet his family and see Bella. But the war began and the return to Europe was postponed indefinitely.
On July 25, 1915, Chagall's wedding to Bella took place. In 1916, their daughter Ida was born, who later became a biographer and researcher of her father’s work.
In September 1915, Chagall left for Petrograd and joined the Military-Industrial Committee. In 1916, Chagall joined the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Arts, and in 1917 he and his family returned to Vitebsk. After the revolution, he was appointed authorized commissioner for arts affairs of the Vitebsk province. On January 28, 1919, Chagall opened the Vitebsk Art School.
In 1920, Chagall left for Moscow and settled in the “house with lions” on the corner of Likhov Lane and Sadovaya. On the recommendation of A. M. Efros, he got a job at the Moscow Jewish Chamber Theater under the direction of Alexei Granovsky. He took part in the artistic design of the theater: first he painted wall paintings for the auditoriums and lobby, and then costumes and scenery, including “Love on Stage” with a portrait of a “ballet couple.”
In 1921, the Granovsky Theater opened with the play “The Evening of Sholom Aleichem” designed by Chagall. In 1921, Marc Chagall worked as a teacher at the Third International Jewish labor school-colony near Moscow for street children in Malakhovka.
In 1922, he and his family went first to Lithuania (his exhibition was held in Kaunas), and then to Germany. In the fall of 1923, at the invitation of Ambroise Vollard, the Chagall family left for Paris.
In 1937, Chagall received French citizenship.
In 1941, the management of the Museum of Modern Art in New York invited Chagall to move from Nazi-controlled France to the United States, and in the summer of 1941, Chagall's family came to New York. After the end of the war, the Chagalls decided to return to France. However, on September 2, 1944, Bella died of sepsis in a local hospital. Nine months later, the artist painted two paintings in memory of his beloved wife: “Wedding Lights” and “Next to Her.”
Relationship with Virginia McNeill-Haggard, the daughter of a former British consul in the United States, began when Chagall was 58 years old, Virginia - just over 30. They had a son, David (after one of Chagall's brothers) McNeill. In 1947, Chagall arrived with his family in France. Three years later, Virginia, having taken her son, unexpectedly ran away from him with her lover.
On July 12, 1952, Chagall married “Vava” - Valentina Brodskaya, owner of a London fashion salon and daughter of the famous manufacturer and sugar refiner Lazar Brodsky. But only Bella remained his muse all his life; until his death, he refused to talk about her as if she were dead.
In 1960, Marc Chagall received the Erasmus Prize.
Since the 1960s, Chagall mainly switched to monumental forms of art - mosaics, stained glass, tapestries, and also became interested in sculpture and ceramics. In the early 1960s, at the request of the Israeli government, Chagall created mosaics and tapestries for the parliament building in Jerusalem. After this success, he received many orders for the decoration of Catholic, Lutheran churches and synagogues throughout Europe, America and Israel.
In 1964, Chagall painted the ceiling of the Paris Grand Opera commissioned by French President Charles de Gaulle, in 1966 he created two panels for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and in Chicago he decorated the National Bank building with the mosaic “The Four Seasons” (1972).
In 1966, Chagall moved to a house built especially for him, which also served as a workshop, located in the province of Nice - Saint-Paul-de-Vence.
In 1973, at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union, Chagall visited Leningrad and Moscow. An exhibition was organized for him at the Tretyakov Gallery. The artist donated to the Tretyakov Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin's works.
In 1977, Marc Chagall was awarded France's highest award - the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, and in 1977-1978 an exhibition of the artist's works was organized in the Louvre, dedicated to the artist's 90th anniversary. Contrary to all the rules, the Louvre exhibited works by a still living author.
Chagall died on March 28, 1985 at the age of 98 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. He was buried in the local cemetery. Until the end of his life, “Vitebsk” motifs could be traced in his work. There is a “Chagall Committee”, which includes four of his heirs. There is no complete catalog of the artist’s works.