Chagall, Marc (1887-1985)

                            

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.

         

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.

                     

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).

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.

           

Marc Chagall Biography - 1887-1985
Marc Chagall was born as one of eight children of a Russian-Jewish family in Vitebsk/Belarus. His given name was not Marc, but Moses. In Paris - at that time the Mecca of art - Chagall experienced Fauvism and Cubism. Soon he developed his very own poetic style.

Besides his paintings and glass-windows for Roman-Catholic cathedrals and Jewish synagogues, he created a rich plethora of prints. As color was of such great essence for his work, lithography became the artist's favorite technique.

Early Lithographs 1922-1923
Chagall was already 35 years old when he started with printmaking techniques. At that time he lived in Berlin/Germany with his wife Bella and his daughter Ida. He created woodcuts, etchings and a total of 24 lithographs. These early prints were drawn by the artist on paper and transformed into lithographs by a professional printer. At that time, Chagall - as so many famous artists - did not yet have the necessary knowledge and skill to master the technical printing process himself.

Etchings for the Publisher Vollard
In 1923 Chagall returned to Paris. He received commissions by the art dealer Vollard to illustrate Gogol's book The Dead Souls, La Fontaine's Fables and the Bible. For all three series, the technique of etchings was used. Vollard died before these illustrations could be finished. They were later published with a huge delay by E.Teriade in 1948, 1952 and 1956.


                      


Exile in New York
In 1941 Chagall went into exile from Nazi occupied France to the United States. He had received an invitation by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
In 1944 the artist's wife Bella died.

In his house in High Falls, Chagall created the series Four Tales from the Arabian Nights. This series consists of 12 Chagall lithographs in color. They were first painted as gouaches and then printed in 1948 in the studio of Albert Carman, City Island, New York. It is not known to which degree the artist was involved in the printing process.

During Chagall's exile in New York, he designed the costumes and stage decorations for a ballet performance of Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird. In 1946, the New York Museum of Modern Art had a huge retrospective exhibition of Marc Chagall's prints and paintings. The exhibition was a big success and was later shown in Chicago.
Working with Mourlot and Sorlier in Paris

In 1947 Mark Chagall returned to France. 1950 is the beginning of a completely new era for his printmaking activities. He cooperated with the publisher Mourlot in Paris. At the age of 63, Chagall more or less learned the art of making lithographs from scratch - like an apprentice. The teacher of this gifted "apprentice" became Charles Sorlier, a professional and exceptionally talented printer. Under the guidance of Sorlier, Chagall worked regularly in the printing studio of Mourlot. In this period he created his graphic masterpieces like Daphnis and Chloe.

Marc Chagall prints are usually limited to an average of 50 copies, signed and numbered by the artist. In addition to these numbered prints, about a dozen artist proof prints - numbered in Roman numbers and printed on different paper - were produced.

From 1950 on, Velin d'Arches or B.F.K. de Rives paper was used. These papers have watermarks. Both paper brands are not purely white, but are slightly toned. But editions printed on Japan paper (Japon nacre) can be found as well.

Apart from the prints in a very limited number, also large editions of up to 15,000 copies were produced and published in magazines like Derriere le Mirroir and XX Siecle. Chagall Marc used lithographs for all kinds of occasions - like for instance menu or birthday cards.

At the end of his life, the artist had created more than one thousand prints - mainly lithographs and etchings. He died at the age of 98 on March 28, 1985 in Saint-Paul in France. His works are sought after by art lovers and museums all over the world. Chagall is considered as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.