MARC CHAGALL

Art

 

b. 1887, Vitebsk, Russia; d. 1985, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France

Marc Chagall was born July 7, 1887, in Vitebsk, Russia. Vitebsk was the tenth largest Jewish centre in the Pale of Settlement, during Chagall’s childhood there were 35,000 Jews living there. Situated on the shores of Dvina River, it was a major trade and cultural centre, a stronghold of Orthodox Judaism with a strong Hasidic presence. From 1907 to 1910, Chagall studied in St Petersburg, at the Imperial Society for the Protection of the Arts, before leaving for Paris in 1910 to study under the famous stage designer, Leon Bakst. His first major exhibition of art took place in Berlin in 1914. Chagall returned Russia in 1914, to see his future wife Bella, but was prevented from returning to Europe by the outbreak of the First World War. In 1912 he participated in the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d’Automne, two of France’s most prestigious exhibitions of the time.

During his time back in Russia he settled in Vitebsk, where he was appointed Commissar for Art in 1918, he founded the Vitebsk Popular Art School and directed it until disagreements with the Suprematists resulted in his resignation in 1920. He moved to Moscow and executed his first stage designs for the State Jewish Chamber Theatre there. After a sojourn in Berlin, Chagall returned to Paris in 1923 and met Ambroise Vollard. His first retrospective took place in 1924 at the Galerie Barbazanges-Hodebert, Paris. During the 1930s, he travelled to Palestine, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, and Italy. In 1933, the Kunsthalle Basel held a major retrospective of his work.

During World War II, Chagall fled to the United States where he met up with his dealer, Pierre Matisse, and many other refugees from Europe. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, gave him a retrospective in 1946. Bella died in America during the war. After his return to France in 1948, the artist decided to move to the south of France and in 1950 he settled in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. He remarried and exhibited in Paris, Amsterdam, and London. During 1951, he visited Israel and executed his first sculptures. The following year, Chagall travelled in Greece and Italy. During the 1960s, Chagall continued to travel widely, often in association with the large-scale commissions he received. Among these were windows for the synagogue of the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Centre, Jerusalem, installed in 1962; his famous ceiling for the Paris Opéra, installed in 1964; a window for the United Nations building, New York, installed in 1964; murals for the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, installed in 1967; and windows for the cathedral in Metz, France, installed in 1968. An exhibition of the artist’s work from 1967 to 1977 was held at the Musée du Louvre, Paris, in 1977–78, and a major retrospective was held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1985. Chagall died March 28, 1985, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France.