killing denouement

The Promenade 1917-18

“My name is Marc, my emotional life is sensitive and my purse is empty, but they say I have talent.”

I don’t normally notice or recognise the redone google logos but today it seems, is Russian-French painter Marc Chagal’s birthday. Dying at 97 years old, he lived and worked on the periphery of a number of movements, from Surrealism to Cubism and Fauvism, and tends to be associated with the Paris School. There’s a pretty good biography here. I don’t remember particularly liking his work; an image search today proved that this is still be the case. A little bit weird as I generally don’t find myself being unattracted to the entire oevre of any one artist but eh. I do rather like this Yousuf Karsh portrait of him though.

I guess his etchings are pretty alright – the scratchy sparsity of line that annoys me so in his paintings works well here. These ones above are from his Dead Souls series. They’re also a little over the top humourous, with titles like Dames charmante et charmante à tous égards (Perfectly charming ladies gossipping) for the 1923-7 print on the left. The one on the right is entitled Madame Korobotchka

Birthday 1915

“In our life there is a single color, as on an artist’s palette, which provides the meaning of life and art. It is the color of love”

It is unfortunate that the phrase ‘colour of love’ reminds me of Celine Dion’s ‘power of love’. Very. I do rather love this quote though, especially given his own lifelong love and dedication to his wife , Bella Rosenfeld. She can can be seen in many of his paintings. Often floating, as if it’s hard to keep their collective feet on the ground. Maybe it is. Even if I’m not feeling his works on paper or canvas I can definitely get behind his mosaics and murals. And perhaps even the pavement chalkings that he inspires, even if it is attached to Jews for Jesus. This one appears to be a replica of his 1938 White Crucification. And below it, the gorgeous ceiling at Paris’ Opéra Garnier.

There’s also this Boston mural inspired by Chagall. By Pasqualina Azzarello; I like it better than much of the artist’s work. Stubbornness plus the fact it’s on brick regardless of content? Probably. Chagall also did a lot of mosaic and stained glass work, which I’m generally not a fan of. This photo by wallyg shows the espeically famous Chicago mosaic.

Apparently he had some part to play in the 1917 Russian Revolution too. Again, eh. Which reminds me that I should probably finish reading about the young Stalin one of these days. In the copious amounts of free time I’m not going to have till August, at that.