Marc
Chagall
b. 1887, Vitebsk,
Russia; d. 1985, Saint-Paul-de-Vence,
France
Marc Chagall was born
July 7, 1887, in Vitebsk,
Russia. From 1907
to 1910, he studied
in Saint Petersburg,
at the Imperial Society
for the Protection
of the Arts and later
with Léon Bakst.
In 1910, he moved
to Paris, where he
associated with Guillaume
Apollinaire and Robert
Delaunay and encountered
Fauvism and Cubism.
He participated in
the Salon des Indépendants
and the Salon d’Automne
in 1912. His first
solo show was held
in 1914 at Der Sturm
gallery in Berlin.
Chagall visited Russia
in 1914, and was prevented
from returning to
Paris by the outbreak
of war. He settled
in Vitebsk, where
he was appointed Commissar
for Art in 1918. He
founded the Vitebsk
Popular Art School
and directed it until
disagreements with
the Suprematists resulted
in his resignation
in 1920. He moved
to Moscow and executed
his first stage designs
for the State Jewish
Chamber Theater there.
After a sojourn in
Berlin, Chagall returned
to Paris in 1923 and
met Ambroise Vollard.
His first retrospective
took place in 1924
at the Galerie Barbazanges-Hodebert,
Paris. During the
1930s, he traveled
to Palestine, the
Netherlands, Spain,
Poland, and Italy.
In 1933, the Kunsthalle
Basel held a major
retrospective of his
work.
During World War II,
Chagall fled to the
United States. The
Museum of Modern Art,
New York, gave him
a retrospective in
1946. He settled permanently
in France in 1948
and exhibited in Paris,
Amsterdam, and London.
During 1951, he visited
Israel and executed
his first sculptures.
The following year,
the artist traveled
in Greece and Italy.
During the 1960s,
Chagall continued
to travel widely,
often in association
with large-scale commissions
he received. Among
these were windows
for the synagogue
of the Hadassah-Hebrew
University Medical
Center, Jerusalem,
installed in 1962;
a ceiling for the
Paris Opéra,
installed in 1964;
a window for the United
Nations building,
New York, installed
in 1964; murals for
the Metropolitan Opera
House, New York, installed
in 1967; and windows
for the cathedral
in Metz, France, installed
in 1968. An exhibition
of the artist’s
work from 1967 to
1977 was held at the
Musée du Louvre,
Paris, in 1977–78,
and a major retrospective
was held at the Philadelphia
Museum of Art in 1985.
Chagall died March
28, 1985, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence,
France.
