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Marc Chagall
CHAGALL Marc Zakharovich
(07.07.1887 – 28.03.1985)
Graphic artist, painter, stage designer, one of the greatest artists of the XX century
Marc Chagall was born in Vitebsk. In 1905 he graduated from the 1st Vitebsk town four-class specialized school. In 1907–1908 he studied at the School of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Arts, in 1908–1910 at the art school in St. Petersburg (Russia). In 1918 he became an art commissioner of Vitebsk and Vitebsk province, in 1919 he founded Vitebsk public art school. In 1910–1914, 1923–1941 and since 1948 Chagall lived in Paris (France), in 1941–1947 – in the USA. He specialized in painting, easel painting and graphics, theatrical decor, monumental and decorative art, and sculpture. A lot of motifs of his paintings were borrowed from the life of Belarusian small towns. In 1912 he first exhibited at the Salon d'Automne (Autumn Salon) in Paris. In June, 1914 his first solo exhibition was held in Berlin, which gave impetus to the emergence of expressionist movement. Chagall made illustrations for such books as "Dead Souls" by Nikolai Gogol (1923–1927), "Fable" by J. La Fontaine (1927–1930), The Bible (1930–1939, 1952–1956), etc. Chagall designed scenery for the ballet "Aleko" to the music by Tchaikovsky (1942), "Firebird" by Igor Stravinsky (1945) and others. He created the murals for the lobby of the "Watergate" theater in London (1949), ceramic panels and stained glass windows for churches in Assi (1957), stained glass windows for cathedrals in Metz, Reims, and Zurich (1958–1960), stained glass windows for a medical center in Jerusalem (1960–1962), the plafond in the Grand Opera in Paris (1963–1964), mosaics for the UNO building (1964) and the Metropolitan Opera in New York (the USA, 1965–1966), the mosaic for the National Bank of Chicago (the USA, 1972), etc. Chagall wrote memoirs, a book of poetry "Poetry" (1989). In 1977 he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor of France. The museums of his artworks were opened in Haifa (Israel, 1957) and Nice (France, 1973). In 1992 Marc Chagall Museum and Chagall Art Center were opened in Vitebsk. He died and was buried in Saint-Paul de Vence, near Nice (France).
Works:
1. My life. New York: Orion Press, 1960.
2. Ангел над крышами: Стихи. Проза. Статьи. Выступления. Письма. Москва: Современник, 1989.
3. Паэзія. Мінск: Мастацкая літаратура, 1989.
Literature:
1. Шагал: Возвращение мастера. Альбом-каталог. Москва: Советский художник, 1989.
2. Harshav B. Marc Chagall and His Times: A Documentary Narrative. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004.
3. Wullschlager J. Chagall: A Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.
© National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 2011
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