Mark Shagal

Nowadays Vitebsk is well known as Mark Shagal’s motherland, perhaps, he was the only artist who loved his native town so much, that painted it in almost every work of him.

There was a large fire in the town at Mark Shagal’s birthday - July 7, 1887. The artist painted his first pictures at the sacks and hung them over his bed. When he became a pupil of his first teacher of art Jegunda Pen, a vivid representative of academic school, Mark understood that realism was not his way. He left for St. Petersburg to continue his studies, where he entered the School of artists encouragement, headed by Nikolai Rerikh. Shagal was accepted without exams as a student of the third year, he received a small stipendium. In spite of the fact that students were given complete freedom in art, he was not satisfied with the classes. That was why her entered a private school of Elizabeth Zvantseva.

A teacher at this school, Lev Bakst, who was also born in Belarus, believed that the young man was on a complicated way, though he did not deny his talent. Mark Shagal studied for two years at the class of Bakst. That very period can be considered a beginning of his creative work. Bakst called out his passion for colours and simplicity.

In Vitebsk Mark met his muse and inspirer Bella Rosenfeld. "When I am with Bella, - I am not walking, but flying", - he said. That was why his lovers as if fly, hover over the earth at all his works. All the female images are created under the influence of Bella’s image.

Shagal went to study to Paris. He penetrated in the heart of the French art, he wanted to comprehend everything, especially the secret of art. Shagal’s first pictures seemed to be strange for the French public. But nobody could compete with him in his phenomenal capacity for work. During several years of his stay in Paris (1911 - 1914) he painted hundreds of painting and made a lot of drawings.

Having received the lessons of the new European art, having declared himself as a quickly growing artist Shagal returned to Russia just before the First World war. He worked on "Vitebsk series " (about 60 works on cartoon and paper), participated in exhibitions in Moscow and Petrograd (a name for St. Petersburg).

In 1918 Shagal received an offer from Anatoly Lunacharskiji to become an art affairs representative in Vitebsk. Shagal opened People’s art college, where he invited the best artists, sculptors and art historians of Russia. In June 1920 Shagal left for Moscow with his wife and daughter. He designed the hall of the Jewish chamber theater, creating 7 wonderful panels, a curtain and a plafond.

In 1922 Mark Shagal left Russia finally. Firstly, he went to Kaunas, later to Berlin. At the end of summer 1923 he moved to France, settled in Paris. Ambroise Vollaire offered to make illustrations for the book by countess de Sigoure. Answering him, the artist suggests to make illustrations for "Dead Souls " by N.N. Gogol. During 1923-1925 Mark Shagal engraved 107 boards. In 1931 he started working on illustrations for the Bible, and this topic followed him practically for all the rest of his life.

Shagal worked hard. His exhibitions were held all over the world: Paris, Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, New York, Budapest, Amsterdam, Basle, Prague, London. In 1933 at one of the exhibitions Shagal’s works were burnt after Hebbels’ order, what could not but influence his creative work. A tragic note was introduced in his art, motives with a red cock symbolizing danger appear.

Shagal’s request of the French citizenship was refused several times. The main reason was execution of commissar’s duties on art affairs in Vitebsk gubernia. In 1941 Shagal with his family had to save from Nazism and to move to the USA. He worked hard there. In 1944 Bella died and for almost a year the artist could not make himself take a brash in his hand. In 1947 Mark Shagal returned to France, where he finished his long life of 98 years at villa "Hill" not far from the town Saint-Paul-de-Vence at the Azure coast of the Mediterranean.