Marc Chagall's largest-ever
retrospective in Italy will open on September 17 at Milan's
Palazzo Reale.
The exhibit 'Marc Chagall. A retrospective 1908-1985' runs
through February 1, 2015.
Over 220 masterworks from international public and private
collections will be showcased at the exhibit, which will also
present an unpublished autobiography of the Russian artist
recently discovered in the Parisian archives of Marc and
daughter Ida Chagall.
In the autobiography, Chagall (1887-1985) unveils
interesting details about his life like his squabbles with Pablo
Picasso, pays tribute to Claude Monet's painting, describes his
admiration for Pierre Bonnard and his first touching trip to the
''Jewish land'', saying among other things that ''beyond the
landscape'', he could perceive the prophets next to him.
He also talks about a variety of issues ranging from the
natural beauty of Nice to political and religious opinions.
The show is promoted by the city of Milan - as part of the
programme 'Milan heart of Europe' - and is organized and
produced by Palazzo Reale, 24 Ore Cultura of the 24 Ore Group,
the Arthemisia Group and Gamm Giunti.
Claudia Zevi has curated the exhibit in cooperation with
Meret Meyer with the aim of presenting a thorough insight into
the artist's vast production, from his first painting 'Le petit
salon', until his last monumental works dating back to the
1980s.
The exhibition documents, thanks to its vast and
high-quality selection of works, Chagall's rare ability to
remain true to his poetry throughout a prolific career, which
makes his art immediately recognizable though he was very close
to early-20th century avant-garde movements like Fauvism and
Cubism.
Masterworks on show - including oil paintings, watercolours
and pastels - have been loaned by leading museums including the
Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan in New York, Washington's
National Gallery, the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg and the
Centre Pompidou in Paris, and hail from a total of over 50
public and private collections.
Organized chronologically, the show gives an insight into
the way the artist worked his way through different cultural
roots - his Jewish Hasidic upbringing, Russian heritage and
western art movements which saw the light at the beginning of
the 20th century in Paris - to hone his unique style.
The show opens with Chagall's first works in Russia and
continues with his first stay in France and subsequent trip back
home in 1921.
Chagall's autobiography, to be presented at the show,
describes the moment he leaves Russia for good and starts his
second exile, first in France and then, in the 1940s, in the US,
where his beloved wife Bella died.
The exhibit then shows how Chagall's poetry took on the
colours and relaxed atmosphere of southern France once he
returned to Europe and decided to move to the Cote d'Azur.
Works including The birthday, Jew in Bright Red, The Walk,
The Poet Reclining, Double Portrait, Cow with Umbrella, The
Black Glove, The Madonna of the Village, and Yellow Crucifixion
show how Chagall was able to communicate joy and confidence in a
better world in spite of his exile and the hardships he
experienced, through a unique artistic language he had honed by
assimilating his three different heritages.
Born to a Hasidic family in Vitebsk, Belarus, his mysticism
can be traced back to his Jewish roots, while his homeland
inspired his depiction of folk symbols.
He drew from Dutch painter Rembrandt, as well as from
contemporary avant-garde artists in Paris, though the sense of
wonder towards nature can be traced back to Medieval art rather
than 20th century movements.
The flowers and animals he so often portrayed enabled him
to overcome a Jewish ban on depicting human figures while he
transformed them, citing Russian Medieval culture, into a
metaphor of a universe in which humans could finally live in
peace.
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