The Marc Chagall Art Centre in Vitebsk is dedicating an exhibition titled "130 Years – 130 Masterpieces. A Retrospective of Marc Chagall's Work from the Museum's Collection" to the artist's 130th birthday, as reported to BelTA by the cultural institution.
The Marc Chagall Art Centre in Vitebsk is dedicating an exhibition titled "130 Years – 130 Masterpieces. A Retrospective of Marc Chagall's Work from the Museum's Collection" to the artist's 130th birthday, as reported to BelTA by the cultural institution.
"The exhibition opened just before the May holidays and will run throughout the summer, allowing as many visitors to Vitebsk as possible to see it. Over its 25 years of operation, the museum has amassed a significant collection of the master's works – over 300 original graphic prints, including etchings, aquatints, and lithographs. This is one of the largest collections in the post-Soviet space. Chronologically, the collection covers Chagall's entire graphic art period, from 1922 to 1985. The entire museum collection has been formed thanks to donations from the artist's heirs and dedicated admirers of his work," said Irina Voronova, Director of the Marc Chagall Museum.
The exhibition features the artist's most iconic works from the museum's collection: the etching "Grandmother" (1922) from the series of illustrations for his autobiographical book "My Life"; the series of illustrations for Marcel Arland's book "Maternity"; the aquatints "Alekko," "Lovers Under a Tree," and "Pierrot," donated by the artist's daughter Ida; woodcuts for Marc Chagall's poems; and his final work, "To Another World." For the first time in the museum's history, all 96 illustrations for Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" are being exhibited simultaneously. These were donated to the museum by the artist's granddaughters, Meret and Bella Meyer. A complete cycle of etchings for "Dead Souls" is a great rarity today for museum and private collections. In the post-Soviet space, it is held in the collections of only four museums: the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, to which it was donated by Marc Chagall himself in 1927; the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, also received as a gift from the artist in 1981; the A.S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow; and the Marc Chagall Museum in Vitebsk.
"In June, visitors to the exhibition "130 Years - 130 Masterpieces" can expect a surprise. One more work will be added to the exposition, which will become a kind of culmination point. It is a portrait of Marc Chagall, created by the German engraver Hermann Struck in 1922," announced Irina Voronova.
Furthermore, the exhibition project "Return of the Image. To the 130th Anniversary of Marc Chagall" recently concluded in Minsk, and works by participants of Chagall plein-airs, held in the regional centre in 1994, 1997, and 2016, have returned to Vitebsk. It is planned that these works, which have become a continuation of the famous master's poetics, will be exhibited at one of the city's venues during the celebrations of the 130th anniversary of Chagall's birth.