July 6, 2018
A French/Russian painter, printmaker and designer, whose works made him one of the most popular major innovators of the 20th century is being remembered this week.
In Memory of the iconic Jewish artist and pioneer of Modernism, Marc Chagall (1887–1985), here are 10 facts about his life:
Marc Chagall was a French-Russian artist whose work anticipated the dream-like imagery of Surrealism. Over the course of his career Chagall developed the poetic, amorphous, and deeply personal visual language evident in the painting I and the Village (1911).
He once said: “When I am finishing a picture, I hold some God-made object up to it—a rock, a flower, the branch of a tree or my hand as a final test..If the painting stands up beside a thing man cannot make, the painting is authentic. If there’s a clash between the two, it’s bad art.”
Born in Moishe Shagal on July 7, 1887 in Vitebsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) to a Hasidic Jewish family, the artist was raised immersed in Jewish culture and iconography.
Studying under the artist Yehuda Pen as a youth, the Judaic traditions and folklore of his hometown permeated Chagall’s paintings. After studying in St. Petersburg, the artist moved to Paris in 1910, where he quickly befriended members of the French avant-garde, including Robert Delaunay and Fernand Leger.
Visiting Russia in 1914, the artist was prevented from returning to Paris due to the outbreak of World War I until 1926. In addition to his paintings, Chagall was also noted for his vibrant works in stained glass and lithography.
Forced to flee Paris during World War II, Chagall lived in the United States and traveled through to Israel before returning to France in 1948.
In 1977 Chagall received the Grand Medal of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest accolade. That same year, he became one of only a handful of artists in history to receive a retrospective exhibition at the Louvre.
He died on March 28, 1985, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence at age 97, leaving behind a vast collection of work along with a rich legacy as an iconic Jewish artist and pioneer of modernism.
Today, Chagall’s works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Albertina in Vienna, Gallery Art, among others.
One of Chagall’s famous sayings as an artist, “IF I CREATE FROM THE HEART, NEARLY EVERYTHING WORKS..IF FROM THE HEAD, ALMOST NOTHING.”
Above is a compilation of Marc Chagall’s artworks available at Gallery Art. For more details, email INFO@GALLART.COM or call 305.932.6166. Mention CODE #DCGALLART to receive 20% OFF on your order.
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Sources: artnet.com, biography.com, GallArt.com
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