Happy Birthday, Marc Chagall!

Are you familiar with Marc Chagall? If not, check out the link from his name. He is my favorite modern artist and I would love for you to learn more about him. I have an interesting history with Marc Chagall. No, I didn't meet him on the subway in New York and I was never invited for tea at his daughter Ida's home in France but I do love his work. And just like any original art that you see, the artwork itself is only one piece of the puzzle, it's the journey in discovering the painter and his work that can make you feel so attached. I would like to share my journey with Chagall with you:

Chagall Encounter #1: Chagall, for me, began with Kate. I was a junior at Baylor University and working at The Art Center of Waco as the Weekend Activities Coordinator (fancy title for what amounted to a one woman set up and clean up crew for the weekend art activities). I absolutely loved this job! I've loved art since high school but I was more on the art APPRECIATION side - not the actual creation - can't draw a stick figure if my life depended on it. So to hang out with these people, these artists, was just too cool. Every weekend people from the community could pay $3.00 to watch an artist demonstrate their craft, followed by the opportunity to create a version of that art themselves. My job was to set up the room with the needed supplies, inform the local media of the week's theme, run around during the demonstration and grab anything the artist needed, and then clean up the mess afterwards. I was payed little more than minimum wage but would have done it for free. Well anyway, Kate worked there too. I don't remember her actual title but she is one of those people that you meet in a group and immediately wish to know better. To sum it all up, Kate is cool and artsy - two things I am not, so immediately I admired her. Here's what made Kate, to me, completely too cool for school: big, artsy earrings, ability to pull hair up in a bun with just a pencil, lived in New York, worked at the Met (can you believe it?), lived in an old, bungalow house, had a very large painting of a Jewish man in her entryway, is a strong believer in Jesus Christ, and felt a calling to the Jewish people. O.kay already, "What about Marc Chagall?," you ask. Well, Kate gave Tony and I a book for Christmas that had the painting Equestrian by Marc Chagall on it's sleeve. When she gave us the book she told me all about Chagall, how he was her favorite artist, how his paintings were dreamlike. Well, of course, I was smitten with him too and thus began my interest in Marc Chagall. I didn't keep in touch with Kate after leaving Baylor. Last I heard, she was no longer at The Art Center. I hope she is well and happy. Someday I would like to say THANK YOU for introducing me to this great artist.

ENCOUNTER #2: The Houston Museum of Fine Arts. The Woman and the Roses by Marc Chagall. First time to see an original Chagall. Tony was at Rice University for the summer doing a dental enrichment program. One day, while he was in class, I toured The Houston Museum of Fine Arts. I splurged and bought the audio tour and fortunately this painting was on the tour. I wrote down this quote by Marc Chagall regarding his dreamlike visions in his paintings, why people float, why the dreamlike colors, "The streets are mine but there are no houses. They have been gone since childhood. The inhabitants wonder through the air in search of a home. They live in my soul." Common elements in Chagall's paintings: his hometown in Russia, fiddlers on the roof, and chickens (both symbolic of his Jewish heritage and community), and of course, his life long love, Bella Chagall. Go to this amazing museum in Houston, sit on the bench right in front of this painting, and think about someone you love (seriously, it's completely romantic).

The Woman and the Roses, Marc Chagall

ENCOUNTER #3: This encounter beats all. Well, actually #4 is tied. December 2001, on my honeymoon with Tony in Maui. We decide to go to this trendy little town rumored to have several art galleries. So, we dress up nice for the evening, which to us at the time, meant khaki shorts and a nice top. And in Maui terms, that's really nice. I'm envisioning local art. Nice beach scenes, maybe some cheesy dolphin paintings (no offense, dolphin painting lovers). So we enter a gallery and start looking around. Oh look, there is a Picasso. A Picasso? I lean in to view the price of the print (surely, it's a print?). $18.00, maybe $25.00 with that really nice gold frame, I think. Oh, no! What? $15,000.00? Holey Moley! That's a lot of cash for a print! Oh wait, it's an original and it's for sale. I about hyperventilated. I rushed around the gallery searching for Tony (we had split up yet again - common issue for us in bookstores and as chances would have it, art galleries). I told him about my amazing discovery and we then ran around the gallery together, completely amazed that famous artists like Picasso, Renoir, and as we would discover later, Chagall, had original works of art for sale. Call me naive but I thought they would all be in museums by now. Well the night was young and we spent the rest of the evening touring the numerous galleries in this little fishing town. And finally, Chagall encounter #2. There they were: original Chagall's for sale. We stood there admiring them. I really can't remember what they looked like but I believe most of them were drawings. And as we stood there a tall man came up beside us and inquired about what brought us to Maui. "Honeymoon." "Do you like Chagall?" "Oh yes!" I state enthusiastically. "How about taking one home as a beautiful memento of your honeymoon?" No words, just laughter from the two, ridiculously young (we were 21) honeymooners. Tony, "I don't think so." Quick exit out the front door. What was this man thinking? The piece of art was expensive (and that's putting it mildly) and we were kids! It must have been the khaki shorts. Great memory! Every now and then, Tony and I talk about it and laugh.

Encounter #4: May 2007, Rome. Chagall delle meraviglie. Watch the video below if you want to know about this exhibition in Rome. You can see some of the paintings in the exhibit and the actual gallery where we were. It also has some great insights into his paintings. There we were, taking a late afternoon walk toward Capitoline Hill when we see a large banner with Chagall's name. Chagall, in Rome? He's a modern painter, this is the city of ancient art. He's Russian, lived in France, fled to New York. What's he doing in Rome? Turns out it was a visiting exhibit, only there for a time. A time we just happened to be there. Unexpected and wonderful. Tony and I were beyond the point of exhausted. I was 3 months pregnant. We had spent the whole day walking and I did not have the energy to get back to the hotel much less stand on my feet for another 2 hours in a museum. But I wasn't going to miss this and as luck would have it, the gallery was open late that night. For me, it was the highlight of the whole trip. To see Chagall's romantic paintings, in the most romantic place in the world, with the love of my life (Peter and Andrew, your efforts in reading this far are now rewarded with images of your sister kissing Tony in a far off museum in Italy - sorry-not a very nice reward :) ) - it was truly great. O.kay, I changed my mind, Encounter #4 wins.

Here are our favorite paintings from the exhibit:

La passeggiate, 1917-1918, 70 X 165.3 cm (check out the measurements, it was huge)

Gli amanti in rosa, 1916, 69 X 55 cm

The above two paintings were my favorite. They feature Bella, Marc Chagall's first wife who died unexpectedly when their daughter, Ida, was still young. He mourned her so much that he stopped painting for a full year. She is in so many of his paintings. Below is Tony's favorite painting. Sorry about the Italian titles. The book with the paintings we saw at the exhibition is in Italian and I, of course, have no idea what it says in English.

L'apparizione, 1917-1918, 157 X 140 cm (also huge)

Encounter #5: To be determined. Maybe New York to see his stained glass windows? Probably not Russia, too cold. France, someday way down the line when Sophia is old enough? Maybe she will like Chagall?

I know that I have digressed from the blog's usual work of art, sweet Sophia (or at least that's how we see her). But I hope you have enjoyed learning about my little journey with Chagall. Happy Birthday, Marc Chagall!