Marc Chagall: Early Works from Russian Collections

Petrova, Evgenija; Shatskikh, Aleksandra

ISBN 10: 0953696960 / ISBN 13: 9780953696963

Published by Third Millenium Pub, 2001

About this Item

Used - Very Good. Seller Inventory # 12-D-5-0149

Bibliographic Details

Title: Marc Chagall: Early Works from Russian ...

Publisher: Third Millenium Pub

Publication Date: 2001

Binding: paperback

Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis:

Published on the occasion of the opening of a groundbreaking exhibition at The Jewish Museum, New York in 2001, this illustrated catalogue presents a splendid collection of 60 early paintings, drawings and murals by Marc Chagall, dating from the artist's years in Russia immediately prior to and during the First World War and the Bolshevik Revolution.

Very few of his works had been seen outside of Russia, because following the rise of the Stalinist regime, Chagall's oeuvre was officially regarded as decadent and was dispersed to smaller regional museums or simply hidden away. Yet this was perhaps the most important period of his career.

Published in association with The Jewish Museum.

Synopsis:

This title, published to coincide with the opening of the eponymous exhibition at The Jewish Museum, New York in 2001 presents an important collection of nearly 60 early paintings, drawings and murals by Marc Chagall, dating from the artist's years in Russia from 1914 and 1922. Organized around three essays, the principal narrative essay is written by Susan Goodman, the Curator at the Jewish Museum, New York responsible for co-ordinating the exhibition. This essay takes the form of a story-line narrative, presenting nearly all the works contained in the exhibition. It covers Chagall's Russian years, starting with his arrival in Vitebsk from Berlin in 1914, his marriage to Bella, the outbreak of World War I and the subsequent Russian Revolution. Next it examines Chagall's establishment of the Art School in Vitebsk where his Tutor, Yehuda Pen, was installed as its head and the subsequent falling out with other artists in residence, Kasimir Malevich and El Lizzitsky, which ended with Chagall's own dismissal and his move to Moscow in 1920. The essays ends with the huge series of murals Chagall was commissioned to paint for The Jewish Theatre in Moscow, before he left Russia in 1922.

Whilst the years spent in Paris can be credited as the key formative influence on Chagall's mature work, the years in Russia were crucial in helping to build on, and to define, the ideas and influences of the Paris years. Together they established those themes and motifs to which Chagall would repeatedly return throughout his long career: Love, Marriage, The War, Jewish Folklore and The Jewish Theatre. Two other shorter essays, one by Evgenija Petrova and the other by Dr. Aleksandra Shatskikh, will trace respectively the shifting trajectory of Chagall's work in Soviet and Russian art history, and the interrelation and impact of Pen and Chagall upon each other; the contribution of each artist to the history of Russian art; as well as their sources in Russian and Jewish art.