Renowned for his blend of modernism and unique, deeply personal form of expression in his art, Marc Chagall was a prolific Jewish artist born to a highly religious family in Liozna, a small town near Vitebsk, Belarus, then part of the Russian Empire. His vibrant, imaginative works anticipated the dreamy imagery of the Surrealists, and starkly recorded the turmoil and chaos of twentieth century Europe. While Chagall certainly engaged with the various art movements of the early twentieth century, namely Fauvism and Cubism, it is his personal experiences and use of religious and folklore imagery that differentiates him, imbuing and informing all his work. His Jewish roots are a notable element of his style, through both his own understanding and experience with Judaism and the displacement and horror Jews faced over the first half of the twentieth century.
Read MoreColour and fantasy are important aspects of Chagall’s practice, providing the means to push the boundaries of his art. An expressive, explosive use of colour picked up from Fauvism serves to highlight shifts in movement, form and rhythm. Fantastic subject matter laden with mysticism also wove its way in but rather than serving as an escape, Chagall’s imagery served to represent both his inner thoughts and the atmospheres of the world as he experienced it.
This personal self expressive aspect to Chagall’s art is its defining element. He saw his work as a form of self-expression rather than as a part of the various European avant-garde art movements.
Chagall’s many major exhibitions include retrospectives at the Galerie Barbazanges-Hodebert, Paris (1924) and at the Kunsthalle Basel in Switzerland (1933); the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1946); the Louvre, Paris (1967); the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1985); the Réunion des Musées Nationaux (2003) and the Luxembourg Museum in Paris (2013). Stained glass window commissions include for the synagogue of the Hadassah University Medical Center, Jerusalem (1962); a ceiling for the Paris Opéra (1964); and a window for the United Nations building, New York (1964).
Related Press How Marc Chagall’s Daughter Smuggled His Artwork to the US 23 September 2019, Hyperallergic August 22, 1941. 'As you can see, we are already in the city, at Hampton House,' writes early Modernist artist Marc Chagall to General Morris Troper and his wife Ethel shortly after his arrival to the United States. At the time, the Tropers were imminent figures of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and were instrumental in...
Related Press Royal Academy to show avant-garde art Stalin suppressed 15 July 2016, The Art Newspaper An exhibition of early 20th-century Russian art due to open at the Royal Academy of Arts in London next year ( Revolution: Russian Art 1917-32, 11 February-17 April 2017) will include more than 30 paintings and abstract plaster blocks, or architectons, by the Modernist pioneer, Kazimir Malevich. All of the works were first seen together in a...
Related Press Review of Chagall: Modern Master at Tate Liverpool 11 October 2013, Aesthetica Magazine An extensive collection of works executed throughout the life of Marc Chagall (1887-1985) is given refreshed perspective at Liverpool Tate. Dream-like visions with subjects and imagery frequently derived from Jewish and Russian folk-art greet the visitor. The dream-like qualities consist in violations of the laws of perspective and the laws of...
