Return to Russia: Chagall and Vitebsk (1914

1920)
AUT!R: "#A$%C&AU'# (ARCA')
Transated b*: +*le* ,o-ell
Following a highly productive stay in Paris from 1911 to 1914, Chagall
returned to Russia when World War I ro!e out, remaining there for eight
years until 19""# $uring this period, his home city of %ites!, in present&
day 'elarus, played a !ey role in his life and wor!# It was there, in (uly
191), that he married 'ella Rosenfeld, who came from a middle&class
%ites! family, and it was there also that his daughter Ida was orn three
years later# *his was a happy period + even an e,hilarating one + and in
1914+1), %ites! ecame a favourite su-ect for Chagall, as evidenced y
the series of watercolours in .oscow/s Push!in .useum, the wor!s on
paper Shop in Vitebsk 01t# Petersurg .useum, 2ational Russian
.useum3 and Barber Shop 0*retya!ov 4allery3, the eight Above Vitebsk
wor!s 01t# Petersurg, private collection3, View from Window 0*retya!ov
4allery3, House in Liozno, The Clock The Time!, and the famous Above
the Town 0*retya!ov 4allery3 and "ewspaper Seller#
1i,ty&two wor!s created in %ites! were e,hiited in 5pril 1916 at the
5rtistic 'ureau of 2ade7hda $oychina in 1t# Petersurg, followed y 4)
wor!s in 2ovemer at the (ac! of $iamonds in .oscow under the title
Works from the Series #$ecuted in %ussia 0%ites! 1914+191)3#1 .alevich
presented )9 wor!s at this e,hiition under the title Suprematism of
&aintin'# *his was very li!ely the first 8contact9 etween Chagall and
.alevich#
Following the :ctoer Revolution, Chagall and 'ella settled in %ites!#
*he city and its surroundings, together with its inhaitants and the artist/s
family, formed the su-ects of paintings that are now famous; The
Cemeter( 0191<3, The Cemeter( )ates 0191<3, *ouble &ortrait with Wine
)lass 0191<+191=3 and The &romenade 02ational Russian .useum3#
:n 1eptemer 1", 191=, Chagall was appointed to serve as the
Commissar of Plastic 5rts for %ites!, a position aimed at developing the
city/s artistic life# >is mandate was to 8organi7e art schools, museums,
e,hiitions, courses and lectures on art and any other artistic underta!ing
within the city limits of %ites! and the entire Province of %ites!#92 *o
mar! the one&year anniversary of the :ctoer Revolution on 2ovemer <,
191=, Chagall wor!ed on emellishing all of %ites! 8with 4)? large
posters, flags, grandstands and arches#9. 5 youth team was rought into
service and Chagall himself made propaganda posters which 5le,ander
Romm, his painter friend and art critic, descried in these terms; 8>is
posters were magnificent, perfectly matching everything that was needed
on the street; strange, shoc!ing, radiant with colours# *hey espo!e a
refinement of thought and taste, similar to what is found in the great
paintings e,ecuted in the leftist 0i#e#, avant&garde3 style#94 @,amples of this
wor! are the watercolours War on &alaces and Horseman with Trumpet
0*retya!ov 4allery3#
*his activity in the field of uran design was the root of the future %ites!
People/s 5rt College 02arodnoy Ahudo7hestvennoye Bchilische3, which
Chagall founded in 191=# *he following year was spent setting up
community studios for the production of paintings, sculptures, signs and
posters# 2ot only were 8artists of the people9 recruitedC Chagall also
planned to ring in teachers from .oscow and Petrograd, following the
model of the Free 1tudios 01vomas3 that had een created in Petrograd on
1eptemer ), 191=, to replace the old art schools and academies
throughout the former Russian @mpire# 2o longer su-ect to the previous
ureaucratic rules, these studios encouraged students to set out on the
road to e,perimentation#
*he %ites! People/s 5rt College officially opened on (anuary "=, 1919,
with representation of every movement, from the 8itinerant9 realism of the
%ites! painter Dehuda Pen, who had trained Chagall and Eissit7!y in the
very early part of the century, to the 1uprematism of .alevich, who arrived
in the 'elarusian city in 2ovemer of that year# 'y 5pril 1919, Chagall had
ta!en over from .stislav $ou-ins!i, an eminent representative of the 1t#
Petersurg -ournal World of Art 0+ir ,skousstva3 and a former drawing
teacher at the @li7aveta Fvantseva 1chool of 5rt in 1t# Petersurg, where
Chagall himself had studied in 19?9# :ther teachers included Aseniya
'oguslavs!aya 0applied arts3 and her husand Ivan Puni 0a#!#a# (ean
Pougny3 0painting3, 5le,ander Romm 0art history3, %era Dermolayeva
0painting3, 2i!olai Radlov and @l Eissit7!y 0graphic arts3 and Ivan *ilerg
0sculpture3# *he (anuary "1, 1919, edition of the Vitebsk( "ewsletter
0%ites!iy listo!3 pulished the school program; 813 theoretical study of
contemporary leftist art methodsC "3 composition of drawings for the
applied arts; wallpaper, emroidery, oo!inding, wood paintingC G3
practical courses#9/
2early "?? students would attend the %ites! People/s 5rt College#
Chagall put all of his energies into this underta!ing, producing numerous
articles, deates and lectures#0 In a 8Eetter from %ites!9 pulished in the
Art of the Commune 0,skousstvo -ommoun(3, the Futurist communist
newspaper, he emphasi7ed the upheavals that had occurred; 8*he City of
%ites! has changed# *his used to e a provincial Hac!water/ of some one
hundred thousand inhaitants where, not long ago, Duri Alever 0an
academic landscape painter3 could e seen rotting away and where
itinerant art ended its pathetic e,istence# 5nd, than!s to the :ctoer
Revolution, it was here that revolutionary art with its colossal and multiple
dimensions was set into motion#91
Chagall thought of himself as a 8leftist9 artist + in other words, an artist of
the avant&garde# In a 1919 article entitled 8Revolution in 5rt,9 he rose up
against art for art/s sa!e, ut at the same time asserted that 8proletarian
art9 did not consist of depicting the lives of wor!ers and peasants#
8Proletarian art will e the form of art which, with wise simplicity, will
manage to ma!e the rea!, oth inwardly and outwardly, with what we can
only call literature#92 *he legend that Chagall and .alevich were personal
enemies, and that .alevich attriuted intrigues to Chagall in a id to oust
him does not stand up to scrutiny now that the facts are fairly well !nown#
*he peaceful coe,istence of the various aesthetic trends can e oserved
in the photograph of 1919+19"?, where one can see all of the teachers
side y side, as well as in the formal agreements signed y Chagall and
.alevich#9 In 5pril 19"?, Chagall informed art critic Pavel @ttinger that
there were two groups; 813 *he young people around .alevich and "3 the
young people around me# 'oth of us are ma!ing our way to the circle of
leftist art, doing so in the very same way ut viewing the o-ectives and
means of this art in a different manner#910
In 1eptemer 1919, efore .alevich arrived, a dispute had already ro!en
out etween Chagall and the memers of the College, including some who
were his friends# >e reported on this in his memoirs with some
itterness#11 :n several occasions he contemplated leaving %ites!
ecause of the ureaucratic harassments and additional shortages# *he
fall of 1919 rought with it the .irst "ational #$hibition of &aintin's b(
Local and +oscow Artists# Featuring an e,hiition catalogue with a preface
y 5le,ander Romm, the 41 participating artists included the leading
avant&garde players + Aandins!y, .alevich, Rodchen!o, 5le,andra @,ter,
inter alia + as well as Chagall and his students 0Wechsler, Fevin, Aunin,
Eissit7!y, *siperson, Dudovin3# In 191), .alevich had founded
1uprematism, a new form of art that relinIuished all references to the
visile and carnal worldC his authority was immediately ac!nowledged# 2o
aesthetic, picturology or poetics could possily have stood in greater
contrast to Chagall/s world, which represented a >asidic hymn to
everything he created#
*he young artists of %ites! were attracted to .alevich/s total commitment
and inspired words, as reported y the famous poetologist, historian and
art philosopher .i!hail 'a!htin in his oral memoirs12, and y his messianic
and prophetic way of spea!ing# *hese young people turned away from
Chagall and towards the B2:%I1 0a movement of the champions and
founders of what is new in art3, created very early in 19"? as the 8party of
economic 1uprematists in art#91. :n .ay "G, 19"?, all of Chagall/s
students went over to .alevich/s studio# Chagall officially resigned in (une,
and that fall he was already in .oscow producing stage sets and costumes
for three short plays y 1holem 5leichem that were eing presented at
5le,ei 4ranovs!y/s (ewish Chamer *heatre#
Chagall would never return to %ites!# 5ll the same, we can assert that this
city would never aandon him and would continue to haunt his creations
until the end of his life# *here could e no etter way of summari7ing its
recurring presence in Chagall/s enormous /uvre than y rereading his
poem 8Dou >ave Filled .y >ands#9 >ere is the first verse;
8I am your son on earth wal!ing with difficulty you have filled my hands
with colours and rushes I !now not how to paint you#9 14
1#1ee 4#4# PospiJlov, Boubnov(i valiet0 &rimitiv i 'orodsko1 folklor v
moskovsko1 2ivopissi 34356kh 'odov 0(ac! of $iamonds; Primitive
and Bran Fol!lore in .oscow Painting in the 191?s3# 0.oscow;
1oviets!ii !hudo7hni!, 199?3, "66+"6<#
"#*he agreement, housed in the %ites! Regional 5rchives, was signed y
art critic 2i!olai Punin, who was head of the IF: 0Plastic 5rts
1ection3 of the 2arAomPros 0People/s @ducation Commission3 at
the time#
G#.arc Chagall, 8&is7mo iz Vitebska9 08Eetter from %ites!93, ,skousstvo
kommoun( 05rt of the Commune3, no# G 0$ecemer "", 191=3, "#
4#Kuoted y 5le!sandra 1hats!i!h, 8%azn(18 roli +arka Cha'alla iz
vospominani1 Ale$andra %omma9 08.arc Chagall/s %arious Roles
'ased on the .emoirs of 5le,ander Romm93, "i8zavissima(a
'azi8ta 0Independent 4a7ette3 0$ecemer G?, 199"3#
)#Kuoted y Claire Ee Foll, L79cole artisti:ue de Vitebsk 3;4<=34>?!#
9veil et ra(onnement autour de &en@ Cha'all et +al8vitch 0*he
%ites! 5rt 1chool, 1=9<+19"G; *he Influence around Pen, Chagall
and .alevich3 0Paris; E/>armattan, "??"3, 1?<#
6#Iid#, p# 1?6C in Russian; 5le!sandra 1hats!i!h, Vitebsk0 Aizn7 iskousstva0
343<=34>> 0VitebskB The Life of ArtB 343<=34>>3 0.oscow, "??13#
<#8Eetter from %ites!,9 op# cit#
=#Kuoted in Ee Foll, op# cit#, ")6#
9#1ee I#5# %a!ar, *#2# .i!hnien!o, +alevich0 +alevich o sebi80
Sovremmienniki o +al8vitch80 &is7ma0 *okoument(0
Vospominani(a0 -ritika 0.alevich; .alevich in >is :wn Words#
.alevich 5s 1een y >is Contemporaries# Eetters# $ocuments#
.emoirs# Criticism3 0.oscow; 8R5,9 "??43, vol# 1, p# 44" + 8Report
on the 5ctivity of the %ites! People/s 5rt College during the .onths
of Feruary and .arch 19"?,9 -ointly signed y Chagall and
.alevich on .arch "?, 19"?#
1?# Eetter from Chagall to Pavel @ttinger, 5pril ", 19"?#
11# .arc Chagall, +( Life 019""3 0Paris; 1toc!, 199G3, 199+"??, "?)+
"?6#
1"# .#.# 'a!htin, Bi8si8d( s "0*0 *ouvakinem 0Conversations with 2#$#
$uva!inem3 0.oscow; 1oglassiyJ, "??"3, 1)4+1)9#
1G# For details, see %alarLgue 1994, 1)6#
14# Chagall, &oetr( 04eneva; 4Jrald Cramer, 196=3#
(ean&Claude .arcadJ# MReturn to Russia; Chagall and %ites! 01914+
19"?3,M in Cha'all #T LCAvant6)arde %usse@ edited y 5ngela Eampe, 99+
111# Paris; @ditions du Centre Pompidou, "?11#