Marc Chagall
French, born Belarus, 1887 - 1985
BiographyPainter, theater designer, printmaker and book illustrator, Marc Chagall was born in the Jewish ghetto of Viciebsk, Belarus. He studied art in St. Petersburg, where important exhibitions in 1908 and 1909 introduced Russians to famous Modern artists like Henri Matisse (1869–1954) and Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890). Chagall went to Paris in 1910 but returned to Russia in 1914 for the duration of World War I. During the Russian Revolution he held a position in the revolutionary cultural administration but his refusal to align his views with the political culture made him so unpopular that he emigrated to France in 1923, becoming a citizen in 1937. During the 1920s and 1930s, he traveled and exhibited widely. In 1941, Chagall secured passage for himself and his family to the United States, where he remained during World War II. He returned to France in 1948 and continued to work and to exhibit until his death.
In 1948, Marc Chagall produced thirteen images for the publication Four Tales from the Arabian Nights. The project was Chagall’s first experimentation with color lithography, a type of printmaking that he had previously only practiced in black and white. The prints were well-received and won the prize for graphic design at the 1948 Venice Biennale.
For his series The Bible, Russian-born Jewish artist Marc Chagall drew inspiration from the Old Testament. He took twenty-five years to complete the project, which he viewed as deeply personal. On the subject Chagall once said, “I did not see the Bible, I dreamed it. Ever since early childhood, I have been captivated by the Bible. It has always seemed to me and still seems today the greatest source of poetry of all time.”
In 1948, Marc Chagall produced thirteen images for the publication Four Tales from the Arabian Nights. The project was Chagall’s first experimentation with color lithography, a type of printmaking that he had previously only practiced in black and white. The prints were well-received and won the prize for graphic design at the 1948 Venice Biennale.
For his series The Bible, Russian-born Jewish artist Marc Chagall drew inspiration from the Old Testament. He took twenty-five years to complete the project, which he viewed as deeply personal. On the subject Chagall once said, “I did not see the Bible, I dreamed it. Ever since early childhood, I have been captivated by the Bible. It has always seemed to me and still seems today the greatest source of poetry of all time.”
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French, born in Lithuania and active in U.S.A., 1891 - 1973