Marc Chagall

Vitebsk, Belarus · b. 1887 — d. 1985

<p>With a career spanning more than eight decades of the 20th century, Marc Chagall was influenced by many of the contemporary artistic movements he encountered in France and Germany; his subjects and decorative lyricism, however, reveal his love of Russian folk art and his roots in Hasidic Judaism.</p><p>In 1910, Chagall moved to Paris to study art, but he was detained in Russia from 1914 to 1923 due to the outbreak of World War I and events connected with the Russian Revolution. While visiting Vitebsk (present-day Belarus), the city in which he was born, he realized that the traditions he had grown up with were fast disappearing and that he needed to document them. In <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/23700/the-praying-jew" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Praying Jew</em></a> (1923), he paid a man to pose in his father’s prayer clothes and then painted him. By limiting his palette to primarily black and white, and slightly distorting the model’s features, Chagall indicated his absorption of modern art trends, especially Cubism.</p><p>Chagall returned to France and stayed until its occupation by the Nazis, narrowly escaping to New York with his wife in May 1941. The painting <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/59426/white-crucifixion" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>White Crucifixion</em></a> (1938) combines elements of Christian iconography with markers of Jesus’s Jewish identity, showing the crucified Jesus amid scenes of contemporary persecution in Nazi Germany. Chagall eventually painted over specific Nazi symbols in the work to make a more universal image of persecution, sacrifice, and suffering. In a 2013 interview and biography, Pope Francis identified <em>White Crucifixion </em>as his favorite painting, calling it “not cruel, but hopeful” and explaining, “Pain is depicted there with serenity. To my mind, it's one of the most beautiful things he painted.”</p><p>In addition to these two paintings, the Art Institute is fortunate to have in its collection Chagall’s beloved six-panel stained glass <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/109439/america-windows" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>America Windows</em></a> (1977), which the artist designed for and presented to the museum as a gift in 1977. Commemorating America’s bicentennial, the windows celebrate the country’s artistic achievements across disciplines, as well as national icons, such as the Statue of Liberty, combined with local symbols like the Chicago skyline.</p><p>Watch a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=Bz2mioCp-M0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">video</a> about the history, creation, conservation, and reinstallation of this work, popularly known as the Chagall Windows.</p>