Marc Chagall French Painter
Born in Russia to a Jewish Family, Artist Chagall Painted Magic
Marc Chagall is considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. A brief look at the life and artwork of the French artist Marc Chagall.
“Great art picks up where nature ends." – Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall (1887-1985) was born to a Russian Jewish family and had the privilege of being taught by the famous Russian painter Leon Bakst (1866-1924), at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia. The sign of a true artistic rebel, Chagall was expelled from the Academy for creating his version of a Pieta that was too realistic.
In 1910, Chagall moved to Paris where he lived for four years, and painted some of his most famous works. These are the years that Chagall spent honing his signature style of dream-like allegorical paintings based on Jewish and Russian folklore, and tales from the Bible.
Chagall arrived in Paris at a most fortuitous time in art history. Cubism began and flourished from 1908 to 1911, an art movement or style begun by Picasso and Braque. Cubism was an art movement that believed in the representation of multiple points of view simultaneously. The French artist Paul Cezanne is also considered by many art historians to be the grandfather of Cubism, and acknowledgement must be made to the influence of African masks that began to be imported in the early 1900s.
Fauvism slightly pre-dates Cubism as it was an active school of art or art movement from 1905 to 1907, also in Paris. These Wild Beasts, or Fauvists, of the art world believed in bright colors, lots of movement in the composition and the use of wild brushstrokes.
So, Marc Chagall is in Paris during an incredibly rich time and his friends included Amadeo Modigliani, Robert Delaunay and Roger de La Fresnaye. Chagall is influenced by poets, by Fauvism and by Cubism as well as the imagery and symbolism that is throughout the Old Testament. All of this together mixes in the psychic palette of Chagall to create the artists unique style of magic or romantic surrealism. Chagall’s use of rich and vibrant colors is similar to the Fauves, but the narrative or story-telling aspect of the artist’s work is uniquely his own.
In trying to peg Chagall stylistically, it is difficult. Chagall is sometimes termed a magic Surrealist, but generally art historians do not place him into a specific style or genre of painting—Marc Chagall and his artwork are truly unclassifiable.
Chagall fled to the United States during the Nazi occupation of France and also had the dubious pleasure of having his only painting deemed as Degenerate in the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany.
Marc Chagall is an important and very influential artist from the 20th century. Look for the artwork of Marc Chagall at your next museum visit.
There are dozens of great artworks by Marc Chagall at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Sources:
- Encyclopedia Britannica online.
- www.notablebiographies.com/Ca-Ch/Chagall-Marc.html
- www.philamuseum.org/collections/98-296-110.html?page=2
