Once Banned, Chagall Show Opens in Russia
An exhibit on artist Marc Chagall, whose works were once banned in the former Soviet Union, opened in Russia.
The Moscow exhibition looks at the Jewish and folk art influences on his art. Communist Russia saw his works as “bourgeois.”
“Visitors often ask why Chagall’s animals are blue, yellow or pink, why the bride is flying over the rooftops and the man has two faces,” said curator Ekaterina Selezneva, according to the French news agency AFP. They will now understand where Chagall drew [his images] from.”
Chagall was born Moishe Segal in 1887 to a poor Jewish family outside Vitebsk in modern Belarus, in the Jewish Pale of Settlement, and his paintings recall images of Vitebsk.
Selezneva said the exhibition “must help people to understand the mystery of Chagall,” who always looked to popular art in his search for a distinctive figurative language.
Chagall served for a short time as commissioner of art in his hometown, but following an argument with fellow painter Kazmir Malevich left for Paris.
The exhibit runs until Sept. 30.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
