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In the history of European art, Marc Chagall (1887-1985) is often classified as an Expressionist or Surrealist artist, but his style of painting also clearly bears characteristics of Cubism and Fauvism. Born into a poor Jewish family on the outskirts of Vitebsk, Belarus, Chagall became obsessed with painting as a child, went to St. Petersburg at the age of twenty to study painting, and at the age of twenty-three came to Paris alone. In the capital of art, Chagall created many "nostalgic" paintings, he poetically depicted the scenery and life of his hometown, creating a wonderful rural world, and using the brush to revive the distant hometown.
Oil painting "Me and the Countryside" (1911)
Surrealist artist Chagall is now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York
In June 1914, the homesick Chagall finally returned to his homeland. More than a month later, World War I broke out, and with the closure of the borders of European countries, the painter could no longer return to Paris.
When the October Revolution broke out in 1917, the thirty-year-old Chagall devoted himself to the revolutionary cause with passion, served as a member of the Vitebsk Regional Art Council, and in 1919 founded the Vitebsk Academy of Arts as its dean. Chagall also participated in the "First National Revolutionary Art Exhibition" at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, where the Russian government purchased twelve of his works.
Oil painting Bolshevik (1920)
Russian painter B. Kustodyev M. Kustodijew (1878-1927) is now in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow
However, the good times did not last long, and the artist Chagall was quickly defeated in a brutal political struggle. At that time, the so-called "artistic style" dispute with Chagall was formed by the abstract painter and Russian supremacist Malevich (K. Malevich). S. Malewitsch, 1878-1935), who advertised his work as "pure painting". Malevich's "pure painting" is the following "Black Square" (1915), which he also created more than one:
Oil painting "Black Square" (1915)
The Russian abstract painter Malevich is now in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow
Oil painting "Blue House" (1917)
The surrealist artist Chagall is now in the collection of the Liège Museum
Since Chagall's work "no longer conformed to the artistic requirements of the state ideology", the painter had to resign as rector of the Academy of Arts in 1920. After that, he suffered an "existential crisis" in his hometown of Vitebsk, and even the breadwinner of his family was unsustainable. In order to make ends meet, he had to move with his family to Moscow, earning a living by designing interiors, stage backgrounds and costumes for the Moscow Jewish Theater.
However, the increasingly fierce and tense political struggle did not allow the painter to continue to live in Moscow. In May 1922, Lenin ordered the "purification of the country" and the expulsion of "anti-Soviet elements." Chagall was keenly aware that the "moment of life and death" was approaching, so in the summer of 1922, he fled with his family to Berlin.
Author: Guan Fu Jing Du
Source: Xinhua Guanfu Museum