On March 23, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Festive events dedicated to the 125th anniversary of Marc Chagall will start in his hometown of Vitebsk in April. The festival's organising committee has approved a plan of events for the artist's anniversary, which includes about forty items, Lyudmila Khmelnitskaya, director of the Marc Chagall Museum, told a BELTA correspondent.
Among the many events, undoubtedly, the main ones will be the XXII Chagall Readings and, directly, Chagall's birthday. The Chagall Readings will take place from June 9 to 10 and will be dedicated to the history of the Vitebsk Art School in 1918-1923, which was opened in the city thanks to Marc Chagall, the then authorised commissioner for arts of the Vitebsk Governorate. Art historians and Chagall scholars from Belarus, Russia, Latvia, France, and Germany have already sent in their applications to participate in the readings.
Chagall's birthday will be celebrated in Vitebsk on July 7 and 8. On the eve, July 6, an exhibition of a single painting will open at the Vitebsk Art Museum. It will be a portrait of Chagall by Yehuda Pen, the first mentor of Marc Chagall, brought from the funds of the National Art Museum. The main event of the celebrations will be the festival on Pokrovskaya Street on July 7, "Visiting Marc and Bella". Guests can expect theatrical and circus performances, a solemn laying of flowers, an exhibition-sale of exclusive souvenirs, wall painting, and a literary and musical programme in the museum courtyard. On this day, "Belpochta" will conduct a special cancellation of an envelope and a stamp for the 125th anniversary of Marc Chagall. The next day, the plein air event "Vitebsk - City of Artists" will take place on the central squares of the city. The traditions of fine art have remained not only in Vitebsk's past but are also successfully developing now - annually, faculties of two universities graduate young artists, designers, and fashion designers. Masters of different ages are invited to the plein air: from pupils of children's art schools to established masters.
A peculiar preface to the entire celebration program will be Part IV of the National Exhibition of Naïve Art Insita-2012, which the Vitebsk Regional Methodological Center of Folk Art will hold at the Marc Chagall Art Center in early April. The exhibition will include works by masters in honor of Marc Chagall. Among other festive events are two plein-air sessions: an international student plein-air and a plein-air session by the Vitebsk branch of the Belarusian Union of Artists. The jubilee year will conclude with an exhibition at the Vitebsk Art Museum titled "Teacher and Student," which will feature works by Marc Chagall's teacher, Yehuda Pen, and the artist himself. However, it is not yet known which of Chagall's works will be shown in Vitebsk: negotiations are underway with museums that own the works.
Chagall's 125th anniversary will be celebrated not only in Vitebsk. The Tretyakov Gallery will present a jubilee exhibition, and a scientific conference will be held at the Hermitage. -0-
BELTA