Chagall, Marc

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Marc Chagall
Icon of Modernism

Marc Chagall (Jewish Encounters)
Jonathan Wilson
Manufacturer: Schocken
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0805242015
Release Date: 2007-03-13

Book Description

Novelist and critic Jonathan Wilson clears away the sentimental mists surrounding an artist whose career spanned two world wars, the Russian Revolution, the Holocaust, and the birth of the State of Israel. Marc Chagall’s work addresses these transforming events, but his ambivalence about his role as a Jewish artist adds an intriguing wrinkle to common assumptions about his life. Drawn to sacred subject matter, Chagall remains defiantly secular in outlook; determined to “narrate” the miraculous and tragic events of the Jewish past, he frequently chooses Jesus as a symbol of martyrdom and sacrifice.

Wilson brilliantly demonstrates how Marc Chagall’s life constitutes a grand canvas on which much of twentieth-century Jewish history is vividly portrayed. Chagall left Belorussia for Paris in 1910, at the dawn of modernism, looking back dreamily on the world he abandoned. After his marriage to Bella Rosenfeld in 1915, he moved to Petrograd, but eventually returned to Paris after a stint as a Soviet commissar for art. Fleeing Paris steps ahead of the Nazis, Chagall arrived in New York in 1941. Drawn to Israel, but not enough to live there, Chagall grappled endlessly with both a nostalgic attachment to a vanished past and the magnetic pull of an uninhibited secular present.

Wilson’s portrait of Chagall is altogether more historical, more political, and edgier than conventional wisdom would have us believe–showing us how Chagall is the emblematic Jewish artist of the twentieth century.

Visit nextbook.org/chagall for a virtual museum of Chagall images.

Customer Reviews:

Marc Chagall.......2007-05-13

This has made a fascinating artist even more interesting; and you can understand the impact of his life on his technique!

Icon of Modernism.......2007-04-14

The reader turns the first page of this little book to see the 1929 oil on canvas painting, "Lovers" by Marc Chagall. The painting depicts a man and woman seated and embracing; the woman's head turned inward on the man's breast, while the man, an expression of calm and contentment, peers upward, watching a winged angel flying overhead, across a deep purple sky. The painting has the deep and rich signature colour of all Chagall's work, though lacks the intense emotional suffering and ambivalence that makes up so much of his oeuvre, however this painting evokes a mystical love, a true love which, in my opinion, expresses the relationship between the artist and his beautiful wife, Bella.

As part of the Jewish Encounter project, Marc Chagall by Jonathan Wilson is one contribution devoted to the promotion of Jewish literature, culture, and ideas. (One can find all these contributions here on Amazon.)

It can be observed that most of Chagall's work, according to the author, is an expression of his philosophy, his religious sensibility if you will, in the form of the "literalization of metaphors", deeply grounded in the mystical and symbolic Hasidic world and Yiddish folktales, which include in their writings the "repository of flying animals and miraculous events." (P. 13)

It is impossible to label Chagall's work as "Expressionism", but the representation of an acute imagination, coloured in fantasy, depicting highly charged religious symbols, including in several works, Christs Crucifixion in a variety of contexts. What I love about Chagall is the viewer is drawn into the work by its striking colour and busy subject matter and is compelled to study it, because the meaning of the painting must be discovered as it is not apparent on a superficial viewing.

Wilson does a wonderful job of narrating Chagall's life in terms of the major events that the artist experienced, spanning through the Russian revolution, two world wars, the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel. Wilson suggests that in viewing Chagall's paintings against the backdrop of these major historical events will see the artist's work as a response to them, and his personal inner conflict between his "Jewishness" and his focus on Christ's Crucifixion, and also his attempt at secularism in many of his paintings.

My favourite paintings by the artist are his various representations of love that display an ethereal, mystical quality, a sublimeness that to me captures love in their most revealing forms, as Wilson comments,

"Chagall's vision of love, so appealing to the human soul, frequently involves a merging of two faces, or bodies, into one. In this regard he is Platonic, as his figures pursue their other halves in an apparent longing to become whole again. Over and again he paints the myth that Aristophanes recounts in The Symposium." (P.174)

Chagall's life Wilson suggests was an attempt through his art at the reconciliation between two worlds, a genuine effort universalizing or merging opposites, he writes,

"In his paintings, past and present, dream and reality, rabbi and clown, secular and observant, revolutionary and Jew, Jesus and Elijah...all commingle and merge in a world where history and geography but also the laws of physics and nature have been suspended." (P. 210)

Wilson's Marc Chagall is an erudite biography and insightful critical work. Although relatively short in length, manages to capture the artist who is considered along with Picasso and Matisse, one of the icons of Modernism.

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Marc Chagall
Jean-Michel Foray , and Jakov Bruk
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810946211

Book Description

Marc Chagall is one of the 20th century's favorite artists, known and admired for his rich palette, his inventive approach, his accessible subjects, and the deep traditions behind his work. Combining fantasy, spirituality, and nostalgia with a distinctive modern painting style, Chagall's canvases are infused with a joyous, dreamlike simplicity. Even as styles shifted from Cubism to Suprematism to Surrealism, his work remained individual and idiosyncratic-sometimes harming his art world reputation, but never his popular appeal.

Amazon.com

Henry Miller once described Marc Chagall as a "poet with the wings of a painter." The pages of Chagall are filled with images that prove the writer's words true. Though Chagall is remembered primarily as a painter, his artistic vision expressed itself in many other forms, including sculpture, mosaics, and the stained glass windows that grace the Art Institute of Chicago as well as synagogues and churches in both Europe and the United States. The volume affords readers glimpses of his profligate work as well as the opportunity to follow Chagall as he moved from his early years in Russia to Paris, the United States, and back to France. During that time, his painting flirted with the various art movements around him--surrealism and fauvism most notably--but his dominant themes remained constant throughout the seven decades that he made art. Chagall's mysticism, his deep religious sentiment, and his playfulness are revealed in the hundreds of full-color images lushly reproduced in this volume. The commentary provided by Chagall scholar and friend Jacob Baal-Teshuva expertly guides readers through the artist's various moods and media and underscores the passion of belief and feeling that informed all of his artwork.

Book Description

This complete record of Marc Chagall's art spans his early work in Russia and the monumental pieces of his old age. Page after page of rich reproductions capture his use of intense, glowing colors and the unique world he created full of magic, enchantment, and fantasy.

Customer Reviews:

Short, but still very sweet.......2005-04-01

This book collects some of Chagall's works, mostly paintings, but also mosaics, stained glass windows, and the ceiling of the Paris opera (stunning), into sections describing different parts of his life and career.

The text was intersting and illuminating in very few words, which was good, because that left more room for full-color plates of Chagall's brilliant works! I could just stare at each one for many minutes and get more out of it with each minute! The man was a genius. And the plates are pretty high-quality, so it's easy to really enjoy them.

The only reason I did not give this book five stars was I thought it was a little short, considering the scope of Chagall's work. It would be difficult, indeed, to produce a book that would be completely comprehensive, and maybe the author had a page limitation because of the series he was writing for, but I sure would have liked to see more works presented.

I have some other books on Chagall in the queue: one on watercolors and gouaches, and two books of lithographs. I'll report back on those once I've read and gazed at them.

It's a sticker book.......2000-12-08

I'm not sure what this other reviewer is talking about, it has to be for another book and it ended up here. This isn't really a "book" it's just a bunch of stickers. They're nice stickers though - little reproductions of some of Chagall's artwork. Pretty high-quality as far as stickers go.

The most wonderful book about Chagall.......2000-04-26

This is the most wonderful book about Chagall I've ever seen. The colorful and beautiful illustrations made me so exciting. The colors are fantastic compared with other books about Chagall. I recommend this book for any Chagall fan confidently. Though it has something to be desired because of being written in Spanish instead of English, this is only for you!

Fabulous book!.......1999-12-10

This is an extraordinary book for every Chagall fan. The quality of illustrations is just wonderful, and if you had only one book to buy on Chagall, this is the one! Don't worry, its not heavy at all; in fact, I would have added more and more pages of never-been-seen work of this incredible artist. The illustrations are colorful, vivid and beautiful, and the biography is very well written and complete. Strongly recommended!

Beautiful!.......1999-10-04

a little heavy. but a should-have for any chagall fan

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DRAWING from the MODERN

Drawing From The Modern
Andre Breton , Paul Gauguin , Georges Bataille , Jodi Hauptman , Hans Bellmer , Constantin Brancusi , Paul Cezanne , Marc Chagall , Giorgio De Chirico , Robert Delaunay , Andre Derain , Arthur Dove , Alexandra Alexandrovna Exter , Arshile Gorky , Juan Gris , Gustav Klimt , Wilfredo Lam , Filippo Marinetti , and Joan Miro
Manufacturer: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0870706632
Release Date: 2004-11-02

Book Description

Many of the key achievements in art of the last 125 years have been worked out on paper. From pictorial investigations that expanded the possibilities of vision to the invention of entirely new kinds of media, drawing has been the perfect laboratory for avant-garde experimentation. Drawing from the Modern traces such groundbreaking innovation through the unparalleled holdings of the drawings collection of The Museum of Modern Art. Drawing has historically been understood as a mark or line on paper--the record of a bodily gesture, an inscription of the action of the hand, an expression of the mind. Since the 1880s, however, artists have sought to interrupt these seemingly unbreakable links between mark, hand, and imagination. Defying long-held definitions of drawing and rejecting traditional materials, modern artists invented a host of practices, altering not only the field of drawing but artmaking in general. Examining masterworks from the Museum's collection of nearly 7,000 works on paper in three chronological volumes beginning in the 1880s and continuing through today, Drawing from the Modern reconsider artists' repudiation of traditional drafting methods, assault on the use of the single sheet of paper, and introduction of new materials. Going to the heart of avant-garde innovation, all three volumes showcase new formal strategies, including collage, abstraction, chance, and the integration of text and image, as well as new subject matter, including the urban experience, the body, and identity. Volume I, presented here, spans the period from 1880 to 1940, and includes work by such artists as Jean Arp, Hans Bellmer, Paul Cazanne, Arshile Gorky, Georgia O'Keeffe, Odilon Redon, and Kurt Schwitters. Volume II, available in Spring 2005, will cover 1940 to 1975, and Volume III, available in Fall 2005, will bring us from 1975 to the present day.

Customer Reviews:

DRAWING from the MODERN.......2006-12-27

DRAWING from the MODERN is the first of a three part series published by MOMA as catalogue to accompany the chronologically arranged exhibitions of their drawing collection; in part, celebration of the seventy fifth anniversary of the founding of the Museum.

This first book looks at the late nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. Care and preservation of these drawings dictate that they are displayed infrequently, paper being a delicate medium, subject to fading, discoloration and brittleness. The publication of this series then allows us to have at hand a history of drawings seldom seen, and a visual education demonstrating how problems of that era both evolved and worked themselves out.

The introduction by Jodi Hauptman is broad and well worth reading. Aside from her entertaining "end of art" stories, she addresses artists and process leading to the dissolution of prevalent notions: relationship of "mark" to "ground", took new form; spatial notions of an orderly page, questioned; the element of chance, explored as process; the ego relationship of an artist to work, dissolving. New imagery happened: collage, abstraction, grids, enhanced emotions, metaphors of feeling, the sublime re-imaged. New subjects explored brutalities of war, notions of "city", identity, the spiritual, and the abstract.

As perhaps with all process of art, the uncertainty of change brought forth much that is new. The 139 plates of drawings both demonstrate and give testimony by leading artists of the time to new era in process. Drawing as subject matter is fascinating. To be expected, the book is well printed. Of course, what is book one without book two and three?

Nancy Gutrich

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Not for the Collector!
Should come with a magnifying glass!
For any Chagall fan!
almost perfect
GREAT!

Chagall: The Lithographs
Marc Chagall
Manufacturer: D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Marc Chagall
Drawings for the Bible
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My Life
Miro

ASIN: 1891024078
Release Date: 1998-11-02

Amazon.com

Chagall: The Lithographs is a vast collection (1,050 individual pieces) dating from 1922 to 1985. The Russian-born artist lived most of his adulthood in France and is well known for his colorful and exuberant depictions of Jewish life. His work often addresses personal themes and intimate visions, such as his marriage and his deeply held faith. He worked in many media, but, "Lithography soon became his favored printing technique. This is certainly due primarily to the one element he had previously always missed in his graphic art: color. Color is employed in Chagall's work with greatly varying intensity, from watercolor-like washes and fragile crayon lines to opaque layers whose effect closely resembles that of his luminescent gouaches." This beautifully produced catalogue raisonné includes descriptions of Chagall's lithographic process, which utilized stone or zinc plates and acid, and interviews with the printers who worked with Chagall to produce these pieces. This is a lovely, colorful book that reproduces many of the best examples of this important artist's favorite works.

Book Description

Lavishly produced using impeccable digital color separations and the finest printing, this catalogue raisonne of Chagall's lithographs documents 1050 works, each with complete identifying signature and edition information.

Customer Reviews:

Not for the Collector!.......2006-07-31

THIS DOES NOT CONTAIN THE COMPLETE LITHOGRAPHIC WORKS OF CHAGALL.

THERE IS NO INDEX.

After your third or fourth search, you will find 2 out of 3 lithographs, and never the one that's really important to you.

The information is cryptic, but very complete when it's there.

You will see the lithographs in better shape than you could possibly hope for, with personal messages to those lucky Sorliers.

I almost returned it -- I even printed out the return label -- but sometimes I found what I needed to know, knowing that I could never find that crucial detail anywhere else. And the print job is way above and beyond. I'm still stunned that it's available for under $100!

Should come with a magnifying glass!.......2005-04-20

Chagall was such a prolific artist that of course any book that is a complete catalog of anything he did, let alone lithography, would have to have small pictures or require a forklift. Nonetheless, it's a pity that so many of the lithographs in this book are reproduced in a size not much bigger than a postage stamp.

And while I found the text and interviews at the front somewhat interesting, I thought parts of the interviews seemed like name-dropping exercises. The book was originally written in French, I believe, and some of the translation throughout was unevenly done, if at all.

But hey -- it's Chagall! To see page after page of his brilliant works is still a pure joy, even if you suffer eyestrain as a result. And the many page-size reproductions were certainly treats for the eye. And to have a complete collection to look at, well, that almost makes up for the tiny reproductions.

For any Chagall fan!.......2000-07-05

I never thought that I would own that book one day because of its price. But as a HUGE fan of this artist, I have finally decided to buy it... and I don't regret it! I bought many books on Chagall's painting, and this one is undoubtebly a masterpiece. It is beautifully illustrated and excellently documented. The interviews at the beginning of the book (for example, the one with Henri Deschamps) are quite interesting, and the global "presentation" of the book is simple but beautiful. The only thing that disappointed me a little is that I was kind of hoping to see more full-page lithographs. I knew that this was a catalogue raisonné before I bought it, but was hoping just the same to see more one-page illustrations, although the ones that are there (for example, the complete paintings for Daphnis and Chloé) are wonderful. The quality of printing is just superb and this book is definitely a good buy for any Chagall afficionado. In fact, I would say that this book, completed with "Chagall" by Jacob Baal-Teshuva (Taschen)-- if you could find it!-- would be the best two buys you could do. Trust me! :)

almost perfect.......2000-06-14

I wish this well illustrated catalogue raisonne included the information for all prints in the editions rather than just the ones belonging to Sorlier. Many of Sorlier's prints are "HC" prints or "Epreuve de collaborateur" prints in which case you may have to seak another source to discover the edition numbers for the specific print you're researching. Other than that - nicely illustrated (though the illustrations are small, it is not designed as a book to showcase the prints as reproductions) and chronologically arranged.

GREAT!.......2000-06-02

I have seen many, many Chagall Litographs and books on them and this one is the BEST! It lists every single Litograph ever made by Chagall, it's worth every penny.

Terra Sculptura, Terra Pictura: Ceramics from the Classic Modernnists : Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Raoul Dufy, Joan Miro, Pablo Pic

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Terra Sculptura, Terra Pictura: Ceramics from the Classic Modernnists : Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Raoul Dufy, Joan Miro, Pablo Pic
Georges Braque
Manufacturer: Univ of Pennsylvania Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9065380329

First Impressions: Marc Chagall (First Impressions)

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First Impressions: Marc Chagall (First Impressions)
Howard Greenfeld
Manufacturer: Harry N Abrams
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810931524

Book Description

Young Marc Chagall defied family tradition by leaving his Russian village to pursue his art in Paris and the world beyond. Exploring the magic of Chagall's paintings, the author shows how Jewish life and folklore influenced his work, filling it with the spirituality that made Chagall one of the 20th century's most beloved artists.

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La Fontaine would be proud!

Marc Chagall: The Fables of LA Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine
Manufacturer: New Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1565844041

Book Description

Unashamedly borrowing his inspiration and material from Aesop's fables, Jean de La Fontaine wrote his stories in French verse during the late seventeenth century. His fables have been popular with children and adults alike ever since. These are timeless stories of country folk, heroes of Greek mythology, and familiar creatures. Each tale contains a moral for living, as relevant today as they were 300 years ago.

This large-format (8 ½ x 11 ¼ inches) volume gathers more than a hundred of La Fontaine's most beloved fables for children. Jean-Noël Rochut has illustrated his magical fables in color, while C.J. Moore has faithfully translated them into flowing English verse to delight the ears of both young and old.

This classic family favorite is fully illustrated in color throughout. The fables in this collection include favorites such as The "Grasshopper and the Ant," "The Crow and the Fox," and The "Wolf and the Lamb."

Customer Reviews:

La Fontaine would be proud!.......2000-07-06

What a pleasant book. If you are interested to own a book of La Fontaine's Fables with a little extra, don't hesitate and go buy this book! The book itself is beautiful: it comes in a box and the colours are vivid (excellent quality of printing). You will be surprised at every page: the fables are all written in various styles (for example, the lines will be "bouncing" if the fable is about a rabbit, etc.). The paintings are all very colorful and will make you smile for sure. The only thing that is quite sad is that only 43 of the 100 lithographs illustrating the Fables have apparently been found and printed in that book. But despite that comment, it is worth the buy just the same. A beautiful and original gift for anyone who loves animals, litterature and art!

Chagall's World: Reflections from the Mediterranean

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Chagall's World: Reflections from the Mediterranean
Andre Verdet
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0385193246
Release Date: 1984-09-05

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One Of Those Books
A lyric story of the artist's youth
Evocative Word-Pictures
Marc Chagall, the poetry of reality.

My Life
Marc Chagall
Manufacturer: Da Capo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Surrealism | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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Marc Chagall
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ASIN: 0306805715

Customer Reviews:

One Of Those Books.......2007-06-01

One may hear this many times about Marc Chagall's autobiography My Life but it truly is pure poetry. Reading this book I found I didn't have to think at all. His words just sank into my head. He writes about his childhood and the difficulties growing up poor while struggling to make it as an artist. Every word seems to throw you directly into his very thoughts and feelings as he describes his memories growing up. It's a book I would not expect to come from a man whose voice is heard mainly through his paintings. While it's a delightful treat for his fans, it is also an excellent and inspirational read for those who intend to pursue their own love for the arts. Pictures of his artwork are printed throughout the book lending to it, a part of Chagall that many people know and love him for. But in this piece of artwork it's his words not his paintings that are absolutely captivating.

A lyric story of the artist's youth .......2005-01-09

This small autobiography is a poetic inspiring work. It tells of Chagall's childhood in Vitebsk and his first youthful efforts as an artist. And it also contains within it the great love story of Chagall's life with his first wife Bella. Chagall writes with intensity and strength much the way he paints. The difficulty of his early years is somehow transcended by his devotion to his artistic vocation. This is a recommended work for all those who care about the relation of the artist to his life, and of the creator of great beauty to his artistic task.

Evocative Word-Pictures.......2002-12-18

MY LIFE is unlike any other autobiography I've read. Who would have thought of Chagall as a poet? As a master of word pictures? There is not a dry, boring sentence in the entire book. Instead, Chagall paints verbal pictures of his youth, his family, his struggles to become an artist. It's must reading for anyone who aspires to remain an artist (painter, writer, dancer . . .). Although the book reads very, very quickly, the poignant feelings it evokes cannot end so quickly. I am haunted by Chagall's painful youth-the poverty, the discouragement he received from many quarters. And yet the autobiography is inspirational, because as a writer, I know that one cannot let go of an unshakable faith in one's calling.

Marc Chagall, the poetry of reality........2000-05-13

This book is an autobiography by Marc Chagall himself. Its a wonderful exploration of Chagall's jewish-russian memories of his beloved village Vitebsk and of his first encounters with the avant-garde in the Paris of the early 20th century. Its a good example of Chagall's sensitivity and of his spirituality. It should be a highly readable book for it is full of poetry, phantasy and hope. At the same time, the reader will be able to meet one the 20th century leading colorists.

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