Although Chagall was exposed to and experimented with a number of artistic styles during this time, he always maintained the integrity of his inner vision. His strikingly modern treatment of space and color and the suspension of logic in his work were welcome contributions to both the Russian and the European avant-garde.
These early years in Russia provide the key to Chagall's long and prolific career. To understand how Chagall's work took shape during this period, we must look to Yehuda Pen, the artist who was Chagall's earliest teacher and mentor. As director of the first Jewish school in the Pale of Settlement, Pen figured also as the primary artistic influence for an entire second generation of shtetl youth. By grounding his own paintings in the immediate shtetl surroundings, Pen's work provided a crucial model, validating the legitimacy of this artistic theme. Time has bypassed Pen, and his work has not been seen in the West. The opportunity to consider the work of both artists side by side enables us to understand the ambience and influences that shaped Chagall's life.
Chagall's themes and memories ' rooted in his Jewish identity, the life of his village, and his personal relationships ' would often recur in his later art, but never with the same vivid passion and sense of discovery revealed in these galleries.
Selected works from the exhibition
Self-Portrait at the Easel, 1914
Oil on canvas, 28 3/8" x 18" (72 x 47 cm)
Collection Valentina Kosintseva, St. Petersburg
The Wounded Soldier, 1914
Colored pencil and ink with pen and brush on paper, 9" x 5 1/4" in. (oval) (22.8 x 13.3 cm)
The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
My Father, 1914
Watercolor on paper, mounted on cardboard,
19" x 14" (49.4 x 36.8 cm)
The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
The Promenade, 1917-18
Oil on cardboard, 67" x 72" (170 x 183.5 cm)
The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Jew in Bright Red, 1915
Oil on cardboard, 39 3/8" x 31" (100 x 80.5 cm)
The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Lovers in Blue, 1914
Oil on paper, mounted on cardboard, 193/8" x 173/8" (49 x 44 cm)
Private Collection, St. Petersburg
View from the Window, on the Olcha, 1915
Gouache and oil on cardboard, 39" x 31 5/8" (100.2 x 80.3 cm)
The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Music, 1920
Tempera, gouache and opaque white on canvas,
83 7/8" x 41" (213 x 104 cm)
The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Marc Chagall: Early Works from Russian Collections is sponsored by
and by
Leadership support has been provided by a special appropriation obtained by New York State Senator Roy M. Goodman and administered by the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, an anonymous donor, Anne and Bernard Spitzer, the Robert Lehman Foundation and The Skirball Foundation. Major grants have been received from OFFITBANK, Credit Lyonnais, The Smart Family Foundation, an anonymous donor, The Edmond de Rothschild Foundation, Fanya Gottesfeld Heller and other generous donors.
Endowment support has been provided by the Fine Arts Fund, established at The Jewish Museum by the National Endowment for the Arts and the generosity of Andrea and Charles Bronfman, Melva Bucksbaum, Barbara Horowitz, Betty and John Levin, Lynn and Glen Tobias, Bunny and Jim Weinberg, and the Estates of Ruth Roaman Epstein, Francis A. Jennings, Charles J. Simon and Leonard Wagner. The catalogue has been published with the aid of a publications fund established by the Dorot Foundation.
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