Who Was Painter Marc Chagall?
The painter, lithographer, etcher and artist Marc Chagall was born on 7 July 1887. Today marks his 40th death anniversary; 28 March 2025. His poetic, figurative style made him one of the most popular modern artists in the world. His compositions depict aspects of his personal and family histories and those of Eastern European folklore at large. He also made his contribution to sets for plays and ballets as well as to the world of stained glass windows.
Marc Chagall’s Early Life and Career
Born in Vitebsk, to a deeply religious Jewish family Marc Chagall moved to St. Petersburg in 1907 after studying Painting in the studio of a local realist, Jehuda Pen. He studied there for three years under the stage designer Leon Bakst at the Zvantseva School of Drawing and Painting, where he discovered the genre of theatre set and costume design that became a highlight of his career.
Courtesy – Flickr
Marc Chagall’s Art Style
Marc Chagall worked in many radical modernist styles at various points throughout his career including Cubism, Suprematism and Surrealism. However, he rejected every previous movement as he succeeded in a new chapter. However, he remained committed to figurative and narrative art.
Courtesy – Museum of Modern Art
Marc Chagall’s New Identity in 1910 Paris
In 1910 Marc Chagall moved to Paris where Cubism was the dominant movement at the time. Though much of the French art establishment was still swayed by 19th-century ideas, Chagall was like a breath of fresh air with his ideas of art. His four-year stay is considered to be his best phase, characterised by works such as Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers (1912), Hommage à Apollinaire (1911-1912), Calvary (1912) and Paris Through the Window (1913).
Courtesy – ISRAEL21c
Out of these works, I and the Village (1911) was among the first expressions of psychic reality in modern art. He got his first solo show in 1914 at the Modernist Der Sturm in 1914. He had previously exhibited in the annual Paris Salon des Independants and Salon d’ Automne. During the 1920s and early 30s, he painted fewer large canvases such as Bride and Groom with Eiffel Tower (1928) and The Circus (1931), which aligned more with poetry and popular culture.
Marc Chagall’s Last Years
Marc Chagall mastered the difficult art of the stained glass window in the late 1950s and designed several windows at international locations. He produced windows for the cathedrals of Reims and Metz, the UN, the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as the Jerusalem Windows in Israel.
Courtesy – Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall died on 28 March 1985 and was buried in France. At the time of his death, he left behind a number of his extensive collections carried out in various branches and styles of art.
Image – Bride and Groom with Eiffel Tower (1928). Courtesy – Mutual Art
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