Marc Chagall was a Russian-born French painter and designer,
distinguished for his surrealistic inventiveness. He is recognized
as one of the most significant painters and graphic artists of
the 20th century. His work treats subjects in a vein of humor
and fantasy that draws deeply on the resources of the unconscious.
Chagall's personal and unique imagery is often suffused with exquisite
poetic inspiration.
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I and the Village, 1911,
Museum of Modern Art
New York |
Chagall was born July 7, 1887, in Vitsyebsk, Russia (now in Belarus),
and was educated in art in Saint Petersburg and, from 1910, in
Paris, where he remained until 1914. Between 1915 and 1917 he
lived in Saint Petersburg; after the Russian Revolution he was
director of the Art Academy in Vitsyebsk from 1918 to 1919 and
was art director of the Moscow Jewish State Theater from 1919
to 1922. Chagall painted several murals in the theater lobby and
executed the settings for numerous productions. In 1923, he moved
to France, where he spent the rest of his life, except for a period
of residence in the United States from 1941 to 1948. He died in
St. Paul de Vence, France, on March 28, 1985.
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The Three Candles
1938-40
Private collection |
Chagall's distinctive use of color and form is derived partly
from Russian expressionism and was influenced decisively by French
cubism. Crystallizing his style early, as in Candles in the Dark
(1908, artist's collection), he later developed subtle variations.
His numerous works represent characteristically vivid recollections
of Russian-Jewish village scenes, as in I and the Village (1911,
Museum of Modern Art, New York City), and incidents in his private
life, as in the print series Mein Leben (German for "My Life,"1922),
in addition to treatments of Jewish subjects, of which The Praying
Jew (1914, Art Institute of Chicago) is one.His works combine
recollection with folklore and fantasy. Biblical themes characterize
a series of etchings executed between 1925 and 1939, illustrating
the Old Testament, and the 12 stained-glass windows in the Hadassah
Hospital of the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem
(1962).
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Le Roi David, 1951
Musée Chagall, Nice |
In 1973 Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall (National
Museum of the Marc Chagall Biblical Message) was opened in Nice,
France, to house hundreds of his biblical works. Chagall executed
many prints illustrating literary classics. A canvas completed
in 1964 covers the ceiling of the Opéra in Paris, and two large
murals (1966) hang in the lobby of the Metropolitan Opera House
in New York City.
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