Marc Chagall, Il sacrificio di Isacco

I pittori per secoli hanno intinto il loro pennello in quell’alfabeto colorato che era la Bibbia.

Marc Chagall

are viv + i?
“bonjour mon ami…” from southern france!

 using “rick steves’ provence & the french riviera guidebook“ (a.k.a. our “other” bible in southern france), vivien outlined a tour de southern france via our avis rental car: an opel. definitely a different experience for me… cause when i vacation, i tend to stay in one hotel/location for the duration of the stay and take a taxi. the long, windy and scenic roads from town to town were pretty fun to drive.

bonjour from hotel negresco in nice! le'g+v...

not knowing what to expect for the city driving/parking conditions, it was crazy and stressful! the streets were SO narrow and often-times one-way and it was shared by cars, bicyclists, scooters, cats and dogs all at the same time! in most intersections, they had these roundabouts that were a bit confusing as well… and just required you to pretty much close your eye and jump into the circle of death and drive around until you find the right road to get off to! you just had to pay attention to the many arrowed signs and pray you chose the right one!

when in doubt... always head toward "centre ville"...

total distance driven: 1234km = 766.772 miles
total spent on diesel: €106 euros = $158.73 USD
total number of swear words dropped: 11 “mutha F-bombs” :|

thank the Lord that there were so many things to ease my driving stress… paellas, poissons and pâtisseries, oh my! 

the places:

- paris

then a short flight to provence (southeastern region in france on the mediterranean, adjacent to italy):
- marseille
- aix en provence:  a happening place where one can enjoy people watching and modern shopping all while checking out some great museums dedicated to van gogh + cezanne.

fountain de la rotunde in the city center...

night time stroll down aix en provence's city center...

- arles:  van gogh called this place home for some time. here is where we also experienced “le mistral” for the first time. passing through the valleys of the rhone and durance rivers, the wind that blew through the streets and the open courtyards were UNREAL! there were times when i opened our rental car doors and really believed the door would rip off from the sheer strength of the mistral!
- st. remy:  great cafés and even greater chocolates! (and van gogh committed himself to an insane asylum in this city).
- les baux

home of "château des baux"... a fortified castle built in the 10th century. one of the most beautiful historic castle/site in france!

- avignon:  we stayed inside the walls of this once fortified city. it is well known for its “palais des papes” (palace of the popes), where several popes and antipopes lived from the early 14th to early 15th centuries and “pont-saint bénézet” (bridge of st. bénézet).

a historical palace (which became the residence of the popes) in avignon, it's one of the largest and most important medieval gothic buildings in europe.

- orange:  seeing the theatre was seriously humbling. since we went kinda late in the tourist season, it was pretty much empty when we got there. and to enter this incredible structure… and taking the site all in gave me goosebumps + chills. to imagine what it must’ve been like in the past when it was filled to capacity and full of energy! the funniest part, was this lone cat that i had to take a picture of… so patiently sitting/waiting in seat 65 for some show to begin. hey andy, can this pic be submitted to http://icanhascheezburger.com/?

théâtre antique d'orange (“ancient theatre of orange”) an ancient roman theatre...

this cat (assigned seat 65) was patiently awaiting for the start of the show...

- vaison la romaine
- isla sur la sorgue
- rousillion
- pont du gard (one of the many landmarks in the provence region that is on unesco’s world heritage list).  and man… when you see this structure it’s truly awe-inspiring. so beautiful, so rich in historic worth… and still standing after all these years! makes me realize how young any of the structures we might have in the u.s.

pont du gard... if it was warmer we would have jumped from the bridge and swam!

- nîmes

the temple of diane...

the pg-version of the matador in front on the arènes de nîmes (thanks to viv + rick steves' guidebook!)

the maison carrée, currently under renovation...

BONUS PIC:

arènes de nîmes' lone matador under the spotlight...

- uzes
- cassis:  a small, quaint seaside port city… it’s referred to as “the poor man’s st. tropez“. this place was definitely my fav! if i go back, i’d stay here longer for sure. the vibe in this place was so nice and relaxed! and after being in the larger cities of aix en provence, arles and avignon, coming here was a great change of pace. the restaurants and shops near the water and the ocean view were breath-taking. cassis is also known for their  magnificent ”calanques” (see picture below). when we return to southern france in the future, we hope to spend more time here so we can charter a boat to the callanque en vau and spend the day on the beach (pictured below viv) and swim the crystal clear waters! t+t, bring your snorkel, mask + fins and join us… oui oui!

everyone in france rode bikes!

view of the boat moor from a local cassis cafe...

waterfront view of cassis

after an aftenoon coffee + gelato, a stroll to the beachfront does a soul good!

i scream, you scream, we all scream for gelato!

after hiking 1.5 hours we arrived to callanque en vau. your own private beach!

and then off to côte d’azur (a.k.a. “the french riviera“):
- cannes
- monaco:  i have NEVER seen so many maseratis, bentleys, rolls royces, and aston martins in my life. i thought viv + i would get shot for driving our rental opel through here.

the casino monte carlo... where true ballaz go to play! there's an admission fee just to get in and gamble!

- eze village
- nice: definitely a tourist mecca. they had an incredible open market on most mornings which looked like pike place market times 10. and the beachfront here was off the chart. seeing the ocean’s color at sunset almost looked fake. viv + i visited the marc chagall biblical museum (prior to going, i had never heard of this artist and after visiting, i am now a HUGE fan of his work) and saw his 12 paintings depicting various stories from genesis + exodus of the old testament (he also has 5 paintings inspired by song of songs). all i could do was just stand speechless and be mesmerized as i looked at each of the paintings. you could literally spend hours looking at each drawing. so much was conveyed through these paintings (the user of shapes and amazing colors)… a reminder to keep being creative and explore how art and faith intersects in my life.

upon entrance of the marc chagall biblical museum... this is your initial view!

viv mesmerized by the "noah and the rainbow" painting by chagall...

sunset in nice = SO nice!

- villafranche

au revoir (for now)…

for more reading:
- where in the world… (part 2)
- where in the world… (part 1)

the kiss by Marc Chagall

La Mariée 1927

church window in St Stephan, a catholic church in Mainz

The Praying Jew – Marc Chagall (1923)

I and the Village by Marc Chagall (1911)

Marc Chagall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(IPA: ʃʌ-ɡɑːl); [shuh-GAHL] ^[1](7 July 1887 – 28 March 1985), was a Russian-Jewish artist, born in Belarus (then Russian Empire) and naturalized French in 1937, associated with several key art movements and was one of the most successful artists of the twentieth century. He forged a unique career in virtually every artistic medium, including paintings, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints. Chagall’s haunting, exuberant, and poetic images have enjoyed universal appeal, and art critic Robert Hughes called him “the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century.”

As a pioneer of modernism and one of the greatest figurative artists of the twentieth century, Marc Chagall achieved fame and fortune, and over the course of a long career created some of the best-known and most-loved paintings of our time. According to art historian Michael J. Lewis, Chagall was considered to be “the last survivor of the first generation of European modernists.” For decades he “had also been respected as the world’s preeminent Jewish artist.” He also accepted many non-Jewish commissions, including a stained glass for the cathedrals of Reims and Metz, aDag Hammarskjold memorial at the United Nations, and the great ceiling mural in the Paris Opéra.

His most vital work was made on the eve of World War I, when he traveled between St. Petersburg, Paris, and Berlin. During this period he created his own mixture and style of modern art based on his visions of Eastern European Jewish folk culture. He spent his wartime years in Russia, and the October Revolution of 1917 brought Chagall both opportunity and peril. He was by now one of the Soviet Union’s most distinguished artists and a member of the modernist avante-garde. He founded the Vitebsk Arts College, which was considered the most distinguished school of art in the Soviet Union. However, “Chagall was considered a non-person by the Soviets because he was Jewish and a painter whose work did not celebrate the heroics of the Soviet people.” As a result, he soon moved to Paris with his wife, never to return.^[2]

He was known to have two basic reputations, writes Lewis – as a pioneer of modernism, and as a major Jewish artist. He experienced modernism’s golden age in Paris, where “he synthesized the art forms of Cubism, Symbolism, and Fauvism, and the influence of Fauvism gave rise to Surrealism.” Yet throughout these phases of his style “he remained most emphatically a Jewish artist, whose work was one long dreamy reverie of life in his native village of Vitebsk.” ^[2] “When Matisse dies,” Pablo Picasso remarked in the 1950s, “Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is.”^[3]

^{Marc Chagall Biography}

^{Marc Chagall Slideshow}

John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Cannes, 1971

Jane Fonda, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1966

Marilyn Monroe and Jerry Strasberg (The Actor’s Studio), New York, 1961

President John F. Kennedy and Charles de Gaulle, Paris, 1961

Ray Charles, Paris, 1961

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Paris, 1963

Bob Dylan, Paris, 1966

Andy Warhol, Paris, 1977

The Passionate Eye of Claude Azoulay: Legendary Portraits of Our Times

Photography by:  Claude Azoulay, Paris, France

Leaving school at the time of post-World War II, an era when France was being rebuilt and when everything seemed possible, Claude Azoulay began working at France’s Paris-Match magazine in 1954.  Having covered the Algerian war, the Six-Day War and many others, his career followed some of the most dramatic events during the second-half of the twentieth century.  In addition, his photo-journalism work took him on travels to Saint-Tropez and Cannes, as well as to the major studios and movie sets in London and Hollywood.  Azoulay served as an exemplary part of the of great photo-journalism staff at Paris-Match for more than forty years, departing in 1996 to seek other adventures in the world.

Looking through a list of Azoulay’s photographic portraits made of stars and other celebrity figures is akin to opening an encyclopedia of film.  Azoulay photographed everything that he could; his portraits of celebrities are so alive and include brilliant images of Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Elizabeth Taylor, Faye Dunaway, Barbara Streisand, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Kirk Douglas, Jane Fonda, Francis Bacon, Peter O’Toole, John Wayne, François Mitterand and countless others.  He did not steal their images; rather, they lent him their souls in an attentive and caring mirror.  And thus his body of work has become an important portrait of our time.

Juliette Greco, Jean Seberg, Deborah Kerr and David Niven, Paris, 1957

Slide Show: The Passionate Eye of Claude Azoulay/Legendary Portraits of Our Times

(Please Click on Image to View Slide Show)

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In preparing lectures for my class, recently, I have sought to include relevant pieces of artwork on the slides.  They are often fodder for discussion and interpretation themselves.  In searching for images, I have become reacquainted with the beauty and power of Marc Chagall’s artwork.

For those who don’t know, Chagall was a Jewish artist of Russian descent who lived from 1887-1985.  He has some beautiful and powerful paintings.  I was first exposed to his work while in undergrad.  A painting of his crucifixion of Jesus hung in the religion department hallway.  The image is below (“White Crucifixion”) . . . note the Holocaust imagery that surrounds the central image.  And note Jesus’ loin cloth.

Here are some of the more captivating pieces Chagall has done, in my view.

Moses and the Burning Bush

Creation, 1960

Song of Songs IV, 1958

Moses Receives the Ten Commandments, 1966

Bathsheba, 1962-63

The Crossing of the Red Sea, 1955

Noah's Ark, 1961-66

Paradise, 1961

Noah's Ark, 1961-66

The Sacrifice of Isaac, 1960-66

David and Bathsheba

The Dream of Jacob, ca. 1960-66

White Crucifixion

Mostra di Marc Chagall a Pisa. Nel Palazzo Blu, alias la sede della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Pisa.

Prima della visita ci si interroga: davvero una mostra importante a Pisa? Ma i nostri organizzatori locali saranno all’altezza? Non ne verrà fuori magari una mostra scollacciata, miserella e provinciale (nel senso deteriore del termine)?

Tutta un’altra storia. Passeggiando nelle ampie sale e corridoi dell’esposizione al Palazzo Blu sembra quasi di essere in un museo “vero”, magari di quelli del Nord Europa. Tantissime opere esposte, ottima disposizione e illuminazione, apposizione – ormai è consuetudine – di grandi pannelli con citazioni dell’artista o dei suoi critici a caratteri cubitali (per di più con la traduzione in inglese e francese…), audioguide disponibili alla biglietteria… Ma dove siamo capitati? Ma davvero siamo sul lungarno di Pisa e non ad Amsterdam, Londra o Stoccolma?

Plauso quindi ai curatori e agli organizzatori. Un risultato quasi impeccabile.

Saint Jean Cap-Ferrat, 1949

E la mostra? Chagall e il Mediterraneo. Titolo forse un po’ pretestuoso, giocato magari anche sulle note dominanti blu dell’artista russo… Sale e salette tematiche raggrupano le opere per temi, luoghi, epoche, pretesti. Le opere pittoriche, i disegni, le incisioni (ma anche qualche scultura) si dipanano sotto lo sguardo del visitatore come in una lanterna magica e meravigliosa.

Un uso quasi fotografico, come grandangolare, delle inquadrature da parte dell’artista, produce questi frequenti effetti in cui il primo piano si concentra sulla figura “a fuoco”, mentre nello sfondo si affollano tante figurine e profili di paesaggi che uno ci passerebbe delle ore, a esplorarli tutti. L’effetto grandangolo si fa addittura effetto fish-eye in alcune tavole in cui le figure si curvano per adattarsi alla prise de vue e raggiunge il massimo nella cupola circolare dell’Opéra Garnier (di cui è esposto un disegno preparatorio).

Il soffitto dell'Opéra Garnier (disegno preparatorio definitivo), 1963

Per finire: un Bookshop di tutto rispetto (anche se penalizzato nei momenti di maggior afflusso da una sola cassa) con le usuali pubblicazioni d’arte e il ricchissimo catalogo della mostra pubblicato da Giunti.

Per la cronaca 1: Il sito web dell’evento permette una visita virtuale ad alcune delle opere esposte, contiene le citazioni riprodotte sui pannelli all’interno della mostra e le istruzioni per raggiungere la sede della mostra (pare che una grandissima parte dei visitatori venga da fuori. Finalmente!).

Per la cronaca 2: Il Palazzo Blu (l’unico di questo colore sui lungarni pisani) ospita anche una collezione permanente, ed è comunque bellissimo da visitare, sia per la disposizione degli spazi che per la vista sul lungarno. Il sito web contiene un sacco di informazioni. Pare che il prossimo grande evento sarà dedicato a Miró.

Per la cronaca 3: La mostra di Chagall è aperta fino al 17 gennaio 2010, tutti i giorni tranne il lunedì.

(Se levanta súbitamente de la silla. Toma a Will del cuello y se acercan a la ventana.)

Chris:

Mira. Ahí la tienes. Londres. Abre bien los ojos, pequeño palurdo y observa. Londres de noche. Apagada pero a punto de encenderse, de estallar, de reventar ante tus propias narices. Desde esta orilla del Támesis puedes adivinar muchas cosas, pero no podrías creerlas si tus ojos de pueblerino te las mostrasen tal y como son en realidad. Mira hacia allá. ¿Has pasado una noche en Southwark? Casas repletas de gentes que apestan, que desconocen de quién son hijos y de quién son padres. Que se acuestan con sus hermanas y no pasan más de una hora sobrios. Si cruzas solo cualquier callejuela, puedes apostar que ése será tu último paseo. Sin embargo, ellos caminan felices, tranquilos, a veces eufóricos, como si estuvieran en Fleet Street el día de la coronación. ¿Conoces Tyburn? Allí están las mejores putas. Una noche con ellas y el pene se te caerá a pedazos. También puedes presenciar las ejecuciones. Tripas colgando, frailes ardiendo, ríos de sangre… ¿Nunca has ido a Deptford, en esta misma orilla? Puedes comprar todo lo que llega de América. Especias, tabaco, vino y unas hierbas que harían derretir tus sentidos de placer. Whitehall, allí se esconden quienes rigen el mecanismo oculto de nuestros destinos, el tuyo y el de todos los fabricantes de guantes de tu mísero Stratford. Ellos pueden verte; tú jamás a ellos. Todo está aquí, pero no vayas nunca desarmado. Esta es la ciudad de las putas, las damas más respetables de Inglaterra; los aduladores, los vendedores de honor y ¡Dios salve a la reina! Las tabernas más concurridas atestadas de ladrones y viciosos. Enfermos que vomitan en la calle; niñas que paren en las esquinas, rufianes que matan por un penique…

¿Has visto todo eso? Somos seres privilegiados, vivimos en la ciudad más viva del mundo. Una vieja alcahueta que oculta sus pústulas y maquilla sus arrugas. Ése es el encanto.

La estancia. Chema Cardeña

Creature della notte e incontri d’amore negli anni mediterranei del pittore russo in mostra  a Palazzo Blu a  Pisa

di Simona Maggiorelli

«Le ricerche dei cubisti non mi hanno mai appassionato. Riducevano tutto a una geometria di cui restavano schiavi, mentre io cercavo piuttosto una liberazione plastica, non solo della fantasia o dell’immaginazione», così in un’intervista Marc Chagall raccontava la propria ricerca, non riuscendo a dissimulare un certo rodimento verso quella picassiana che negli anni Dieci del Novecento aveva rivoluzionato radicalmente il modo di intendere e di fare pittura. Rivendicando il valore inattuale dell’arte figurativa, il pittore di Vitbsk difendeva un suo personale universo poetico, legato alla cultura ebraica e popolare dei villaggi della Russia, un mondo a parte lontanissimo da ciò che accadeva in Europa.Rivendicando legami con una tradizione che si era fermata nel tempo con un’iconografia quasi raggelata. Non si può dimenticare, senza volerla dire in termini rudemente marxisti che la servitù della gleba fino e oltre la rivoluzione del 1917 era la realtà di larga parte della Russia e la necessità di soddisfare i bisogni primari non lasciava molto tempo per l’arte .  Ma è anche vero che , quella tradizione, Chagall cercava di  rileggerla attraverso una lente deformante, con carica visionaria, personale.

«Io mi sforzo di costruire un mondo dove l’albero può significare altro – diceva – dove io posso immediatamente constatare di avere sette dita nella mano destra, ma cinque in quella sinistra, insomma un universo dove tutto è possibile».

La fantasia di Chagall., come aspirazione,  inseguiva la potenza del sogno, libero dalle griglie rigide del principio di non contraddizione. Cercava la polisemia delle immagini. Ma anche quella palpabile atmosfera di magia che il buio ogni sera porta con sé. E sono epifanie di creature della notte quelle che accendono le sale di Palazzo Blu a Pisa con la mostra Chagall e il Mediterraneo (fino al 17 gennaio, catalogo Giunti) curata da Claudia Beltramo Ceppi e da Meret Meyer. Centocinquanta opere – tra dipinti, sculture, ceramiche e tavole – provenienti dal Pompidou di Parigi, dal museo Chagall di Nizza e dal museo Matisse di Cateau-Cambrésis, in cui Chagall si dedicò allo studio della luce piena del Sud (sulla scia del viaggio in Provenza di Van Gogh) e all’esplorazione di un sentimento più calmo rispetto a quello che connota i quadri del periodo più intensamente orfico.

da left avvenimenti del 30 ottobre 2009

LE FIABE PERDUTE DI CHAGALL
Un immigrato si familiarizza con la lingua del Paese di adozione facendosi leggere  e rileggere dalla  moglie le favole di La Fontaine. Talvolta la ferma al punto in cui i poeta fa la morale. ” Questa puoi saltarla”. Poi quando ormai la conosce a memoria, la dipinge con una fantasmagoria di colori gioiosi, brillanti e sgargianti, quasi pop, che accentuano, anzi fanno esplodere l’elemento ironico, fiabesco, surreale. Lui è già un pittore famoso, non un esordiente, L’editore che gli ha commissionato le tavole, è uno dei più grandi editori dei suoi tempi. Mal gliene incoglie però. Gli rinfacciamo di tradire il più elegante,”il più cartesiano e il più lucido” dei poeti francesi del’600, una gloria della cultura occidentale, facendolo illustrare ” dalla barbarie urlata ispirata al colore di un orientale”. L’immigrato è russo. E per giunta ebreo. Che sarebbe a dire, per quei tempi, peggio che extracomunitario. Nella sua città natale, Vitebsk, ora Bielorussia, era stato registrato all’anagrafe  come Moshva (mosè) Shagal. A Parigi si sarebbe fatto chiamare Marc Chagall. L’editore per cui lavorava si chiama  Ambroise Vollard. Ha già fatto fortuna lanciando Cézanne, Matisse , Guaguin, Van Gogh e un altro immigrato. Picasso. Ma gli rimproverano di aver montato soprattutto artisti ” stranieri e semiti”. Chagall gli ha già illustrato Le anime morte di Gogol, ma con incisioni, in bianco e nero. Gli illustrerà poi, sempre con incisioni, I profeti della Bibbia. Per il progetto La Fontaine si butta invece sul colore, inventando nuovi impasti, ricchi, corposi, talvolta addirittura quasi violenti. Non sono più nemmeno i colori notturni, spenti, tristi della sua infanzia, che pure lo avevano reso celebre. Sono colori solari, che scintillano di allegria, sono i colori del paesaggio francese e del Mediterraneo, che Chagall ha appena scoperto, sono i colori di Cèzanne, di Matisse, dei Fauves, non più quelli dello shtlel, del villaggio-ghetto…. Tra il 1926 e il 1927 Chagall aveva realizzato un centinai di gauches sulle favole. Il libro a colori non sarebbe mai uscito. Non si hanno ragioni convincenti del perché. Si disse che Vollard avrebbe rinunciato perché le prove di stampa a colore non erano riuscite bene. Più tardi Chagall avrebbe ripiegato su incisioni con gli stessi soggetti. Sarà anche andata così. Ma qualcosa non quadra. La Francia continuava ad accogliere immigrati era un polo d’attrazione per gli intellettuali da ogni angolo di Europa. Ma in fatto di avversione agli stranieri tirava una brutta aria… Nell’inaugurare a Monoco nel 1937 la grande mostra “Arte degenerata”, Hitler aveva inorizzato sui dipinti con cieli verdi e mari viola, e proprio la sterilizzazione e il ricovero forzato nei manicomi dei Disgraziati che spingono così perché vedono le cose così, Tra le 730 opere forzosamente  sequestrate e additate all’infamia c’erano diversi Chagall….

( estratto da Le fiabe perdute, Chagall, di Sigmund Ginzberg da la Repubblica)

Variations on the Word Sleep
By Margaret Atwood

I would like to watch you sleeping,
which may not happen.
I would like to watch you,
sleeping. I would like to sleep
with you, to enter
your sleep as its smooth dark wave
slides over my head

and walk with you through that lucent
wavering forest of bluegreen leaves
with its watery sun & three moons
towards the cave where you must descend,
towards your worst fear

I would like to give you the silver
branch, the small white flower, the one
word that will protect you
from the grief at the center
of your dream, from the grief
at the center. I would like to follow
you up the long stairway
again & become
the boat that would row you back
carefully, a flame
in two cupped hands
to where your body lies
beside me, and you enter
it as easily as breathing in

I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
& that necessary.

More and More
Margaret Atwood

More and more frequently the edges
of me dissolve and I become
a wish to assimilate the world, including
you, if possible through the skin
like a cool plant’s tricks with oxygen
and live by a harmless green burning.

I would not consume
you or ever
finish, you would still be there
surrounding me, complete
as the air.

Unfortunately I don’t have leaves.
Instead I have eyes
and teeth and other non-green
things which rule out osmosis.

So be careful, I mean it,
I give you fair warning:

This kind of hunger draws
everything into its own
space; nor can we
talk it all over, have a calm
rational discussion.

There is no reason for this, only
a starved dog’s logic about bones.

Variations on the word Love
Margaret Atwood

This is a word we use to plug
holes with. It’s the right size for those warm
blanks in speech, for those red heart-
shaped vacancies on the page that look nothing
like real hearts. Add lace
and you can sell
it. We insert it also in the one empty
space on the printed form
that comes with no instructions. There are whole
magazines with not much in them
but the word love, you can
rub it all over your body and you
can cook with it too. How do we know
it isn’t what goes on at the cool
debaucheries of slugs under damp
pieces of cardboard? As for the weed-
seedlings nosing their tough snouts up
among the lettuces, they shout it.
Love! Love! sing the soldiers, raising
their glittering knives in salute.

Then there’s the two
of us. This word
is far too short for us, it has only
four letters, too sparse
to fill those deep bare
vacuums between the stars
that press on us with their deafness.
It’s not love we don’t wish
to fall into, but that fear.
this word is not enough but it will
have to do. It’s a single
vowel in this metallic
silence, a mouth that says
O again and again in wonder
and pain, a breath, a finger
grip on a cliffside. You can
hold on or let go.

She kind of has hair like me.

—

—

Photo 1: Adriana Mufarrege

Photo 2: William Bouguereau

Photo 3 & 5: Luis Ricardo Falero

Photo 4: Marc Chagall

Hello. I recently visited in Pera museum the Chagall exhibition.I am intellectually addicted the sense on a painting. With this instruments like pencil like brush you can really make a whole land of sense or somebody can do that was an artist like Marc Chagall with his works inspired from bibles and his love Bella.
The watcher has been excellently entering to his unique world, fantastic times passing around the painting, drawing us outta that world. We can find ourselves where the dreams are laying down on the clouds.There are people who is flying with a holding hand in the pictures.

Clinging with a misunderstood sound into a tale.

Having so much pleasure to have seen this picture with naked eye I am so thankful to this museum that brought this exhibition from Jerusalem to Istanbul.

]]> http://parkwestgallery.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/marc-chagall-life-and-love-prints-drawings-and-paintings/ Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:29:15 +0000 Park West Gallery http://parkwestgallery.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/marc-chagall-life-and-love-prints-drawings-and-paintings/ http://katerattray.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/homage-to-chagall-exhibition-at-opus-gallery-exeter/ Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:54:32 +0000 katerattray http://katerattray.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/homage-to-chagall-exhibition-at-opus-gallery-exeter/

Looking at Marc Chagall’s work in more depth led me to question his portrayal of himself and Bella, his first wife. He paints himself with her, sometimes he is flying in the air, often she is flying. It is obvious he is besotted with her, and indeed he speaks of his love for her in his writings. But I wondered how she felt , her face seems almost expressionless, and she often seems to be staring out of the picture. Chagall writes about her “… But I always had the feeling that she was holding something back. I thought that Bella was concealing buried treasure at the bottom of her heart.”

My mosaic “Bella’s Secret” tells all – about her metamorphosis into a bird that she went through every night when Chagall was asleep!



 

17 mosaic artists are taking part in the exhibition which will run from the 16th November  – 27th December 2009 at the Opus Mosaic Gallery, Fore Street, Exeter, UK

]]> http://coisinhasealgomais.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/o-mundo-magico-de-marc-chagall/ Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:24:39 +0000 renatodamiao http://coisinhasealgomais.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/o-mundo-magico-de-marc-chagall/


O passeio, de Chagall, quem viu no CCBB não esqueceu.

O Museu Nacional de Belas Artes (MNBA), no Rio de Janeiro, recebe nesta sexta-feira, 16 de outubro, a maior exposição de obras do artista plástico Marc Chagall já realizada no Brasil. O Mundo Mágico de Marc Chagall – O Sonho e a Vida reúne 309 peças entre pinturas, gauches e gravuras, e traz pela primeira vez ao país séries completas de gravuras, como Les Âmes Mortes (As Almas Mortas), Le Biblie (A Bíblia) e Daphnis et Chloé (Dafne e Cloé). A mostra permanece aberta à visitação até o dia 6 de dezembro.

As obras chegam no Belas Artes após uma temporada na cidade de Belo Horizonte, onde teve início a mostra no Brasil. O artista nasceu em seis de julho de 1887, num bairro de judeus pobres de Vitebsk, na Bielo-Rússia. Foi um dos pioneiros da arte moderna, tendo participado das grande transformações ocorridas nas Artes Plásticas no início do Século XX.

Suas telas são marcadas pela qualidade cromática e pelo elemento temático de fundo onírico. “A mostra nos permite vivenciar a magia das composições de Chagall, dotadas de uma palheta surpreendente de cores aplicadas sobre os mais variados temas, que permeiam o real e o fantástico, o sonho e a vida”, explica Maria Eugênia Saturni, diretora da Base7 Projetos Culturais, produtora da exposição.

No currículo do artista destacam-se trabalhos como as ilustrações das Fábulas de La Fontaine, gravuras publicadas em 1952, as obras Moi et le Village (1911), L’autoportrait aux sept doigts (1911) La Femme Enceinte (1912/13) e a ilustração da Bíblia para o editor Ambroise Vollard, em 1922. Além de pintor, Marc Chagall foi também gravador e vitralista. Morreu na França, em 1985.

Complementando a mostra haverá um núcleo expositivo que contextualizará as relações de Chagall com o Brasil e sua influência na arte do país. Foram selecionadas 25 obras de artistas brasileiros que fazem referência ou sofreram influência significativa do trabalho do pintor, como Cícero Dias, Ismael Neri, Lasar Segall e Tomás Santa Rosa. A exposição integra a programação do Ano da França no Brasil e conta com o apoio do Ministério da Cultura, por meio da Lei Rouanet.

(Divulgação: Comunicação Social/MinC)

]]> http://morenafanti.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/lo-sguardo-oltre-il-colle-%e2%80%93-confine-tra-giornalismo-e-scrittura-creativa/ Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:22:37 +0000 morenafanti http://morenafanti.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/lo-sguardo-oltre-il-colle-%e2%80%93-confine-tra-giornalismo-e-scrittura-creativa/



(Cantico dei Cantici di Marc Chagall)

 ***

Con lo sguardo puntato verso l’orizzonte gli occhi si fermano su quella sottile, e invisibile, linea che divide il reale dall’irreale. L’invisibile, come ha indicato Giacomo Leopardi con i suoi versi, richiede una vista interiore che è possibile usare solo se l’occhio [vista esteriore] incontra un ostacolo sul suo cammino.

Sempre caro mi fu quest’ermo colle,
E questa siepe, che da tanta parte
Dell’ultimo orizzonte il guardo esclude.

Abbiamo quindi bisogno di un ostacolo, di un punto dove fare sostare l’occhio; in questo punto potremo lasciare libera quella vista interiore che ci permetterà di vedere l’invisibile.
Chi ci può indicare dove posare lo sguardo dell’anima?
Ogni artista e ogni forma d’arte può rispondere a questa domanda.
La prima forma d’arte a cui pensiamo, la più visiva, è la pittura. Quale espressione artistica meglio della pittura ci fornisce indicazioni visibili, apprezzabili, misurabili con gli occhi?
Marc Chagall, il grande pittore-poeta, ha detto: ” Tutto il nostro mondo interiore è realtà, forse anche più reale del mondo apparente”. Le sue tele, rappresentazione-visione della sua anima, così ricche di simboli e di personaggi fantastici, ci dimostrano che il mondo invisibile può diventare visibile grazie alla magia dei colori che cantano e danzano in assoluta libertà.
L’altra espressione artistica che sa puntare lo sguardo “oltre”, è la poesia, come ci ha dichiarato Leopardi mostrandoci quell’infinito nascosto dalla siepe.
Ma vogliamo andare oltre e approfondire l’argomento “scrittura”: le parole sulla pagina formano quel colle oltre cui guardare. Le parole, le frasi, i paragrafi si uniscono e formano la parte visibile, il nero su bianco verso cui tendiamo. Ma è quella la direzione giusta verso cui posare lo sguardo? O non è forse il resto, il non detto, la parte importante della comunicazione?
La scrittura ha tante forme e tanti modi in cui esprimersi. Ci trasferiamo nella dimensione più concreta e razionale, quella giornalistica, e in contrapposizione esploriamo la scrittura di fiction, la scrittura dei romanzi, delle storie ‘inventate’ che ci piacciono tanto.
Ho chiesto il parere di alcuni giornalisti-scrittori; persone che, quindi, hanno conoscenza dei due mezzi e sono scrittori su due piani che si intersecano e si compenetrano inventando nuove figure geometriche della comunicazione.
Quando si scrive si ‘disegna’ un quadro: le parole contengono colori e forme e gli intrecci che si creano formano una trama di segni. Associare la scrittura alla pittura non è così strano. [...]

continua sulla Rivista di Viadellebelledonne  qui

 

* L’articolo è stato pubblicato sulla Rivista Viadellebelledonne n.4 [nella colonna di destra trovate tutti i link alla rivista e anche i link ai pdf da scaricare]. Oggi è stato riproposto sul blog (nella rivista non sono possibili i commenti e nel blog c’è possibilità di discussione). Perciò lo propongo anche qui.

]]> http://thisbrazenteacher.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/mmt-made-me-think/ Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:31:55 +0000 brazenteacher http://thisbrazenteacher.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/mmt-made-me-think/


La Promenade. Marc Chagall. 1917-18

“For hundreds of years we have believed that if something is logical in hindsight, then logic should have been enough to get the idea in the first place. This is complete and total rubbish.”— Edward de Bono.

Next to my pillow for the last week has been The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher. Came across a piece by Edward de Bono on page 140 of the beastly thing. The last post I wrote was about how little we teach children in regards to their inner world (NOT, for the record, cranky teachers who eat 9 year old egos for lunch…)

De Bono believes that teaching students “how to think” is as important (if not, ahem, more) than teaching Math/Science/Language Arts. He says crazy things like:

“Thinking should be a deliberate act, rather than a reactive one.”

And… “Language has been the biggest help, and the biggest barrier to human evolution.”

The piece I’m posting is a blatant cut/paste until I can find shreds of time bigger than a fingernail clipping to blog. I don’t know if I’ll be sent to the principals office for copyright infringement… but I’ll give credit and see what happens.

Enjoy………………………………………………

We don’t think in words. The temptation to equate thinking with language is because words are more palpable than thoughts. After all- I’m thinking- if I couldn’t talk to myself how would I know what I was thinking?

Thinking is hard work; few engage in it.

For those who do there are a number of ways of sorting, each with advantages and disadvantages. They can be broadly categorized:

Natural Thinking. This is fluid and undirected, it wanders and meanders, is subject to repetition and generalizations. The sort of thinking that goes on when we don’t think we’re thinking.

Logical Thinking. This selects a route and follows it to its conclusion. With this approach the solution is largely predetermined, so if you head off in the wrong direction you can end up painting yourself into a corner.

Pattern Thinking. This confines thoughts to operate within given rules. Therefore solutions are limited by the possibilities available within the pattern.

Lateral Thinking. This is purposeful in intent without specific aim. Freewheeling so it can reveal solutions which might have been overlooked in other approaches.

Grasshopper Thinking. (Brazen Method of Preference.) Most of the time our thinking jumps around alternating and mixing between reasoning which adheres to measurable responses, and imagining which allows unpredictable currents to play around with data. Producing electrico/chemical sludge.

If Ulysses James Joyce exploited the fact that we don’t think in words, and even if Ulysses is so complex as to be inaccessible (at least to me), it must still be a gross simplification of the mush of muddled thought constantly churning, tumbling and swirling around in our heads.

Paradoxically education allocates more value to logic and analytical skills than to imaginative conjectures. Thus law is held in esteem whereas art, or design is considered a fiddly, fussy, arty-crafty activity of minor intellectual endeavor. An attitude with an attitude- particularly perverse since analysis looks backwards while design looks forwards.

Language also plays its part. Have you noticed that when we don’t agree with someone we say: “I don’t think so.’ The ‘… think so’, literally indicating a prescribed route.

The conventional thinking we are taught (and conditioned to think) employs what Edward de Bono calls ‘rock logic.’ Rocks being solid, hard, permanent, inert and unchanging. Like bricks, rocks can be added on top of one another to build structures. However there is also ‘water logic.’ this is fluid and flows according to gradient (context), and assumes form according to space (circumstance.) If you add one rock to another, you get two; if you add water to water, it changes shape. Rocks analogous to a page of accounts and water to a piece of poetry.

The former has units which add up to a conclusion, the latter has images which conjure up a perception. One isn’t better than the other; it’s courses for horses.

To move from hod to pail do Bono suggest inserting an equivalent of the mathematical zero into our thinking. He suggest ‘po‘, a neologism derived from hy’po‘thesis, sup’po’se, ‘po’ssible, ‘po’sition, and ‘po‘etry. Confronted with a sticky situation one inserts ‘po’ into the equation, instead of giving a knee jerk res’po‘nse. This allows for time to generate new thoughts and ex’po’se fresh perceptions. ‘Po’ can open the mind to reveal ‘po‘tentials outside of conventional thinking and analytic evaluation.

The world we have around us is a result of the level of thinking we have done thus far, unfortunately it has also produced problems we cannot solve on the same level of thinking at which we created them.

Alan Fletcher. The Art of Looking Sideways (Phaidon 1994.)

]]> http://welcometotheden.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/spiritual-friends/ Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:05:33 +0000 welcometotheden http://welcometotheden.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/spiritual-friends/



“The Good Samaritan” by Marc Chagall

One of my favorite daily habits is checking up on the blogs that I follow.  And one of my favorite blogs is “Living Wittily” by Jim Gordon.  The other day, in his usual eloquent and mind-blowing way, Dr. Gordon said:

“A theological friend is one who isn’t interested in reinforcing my conceptual comfort zones, or ignoring my bad intellectual and theological habits, and whom I trust enough to listen when he tells me I’m talking or thinking nonsense.”

 I’ve been blessed to have a lot of theological  friends over the years who have helped me along the way.  I’ll call them ‘spiritual friends’, since not all of them were theologians; but they nevertheless have been outstanding guides and friends.  Some have been close friends or family.  Some have been church members or pastors.  A lot of them have been authors, artists, musicians – contemporary, ancient, and everything in between.  One thing I’ve come to learn over the years is that the 2,000 year Christian experience is a vast, mind-blowing resource.  It’s a library, literally and figuratively.  Once I read “The Imitation of Christ” when I was 17, nothing has been the same for me.  That book, despite coming from a vastly different setting that my own, did two things for me: it set me on a new spiritual journey (more like a treasure hunt) that has continued to this day, and it made me realize the power that an old book can have.  (At that point I hadn’t read C.S. Lewis say that before reading another new book, you should always read an old one.)  It never occurred to me before that a slightly mildewed paperback could have such potency, but it did.  And many more since have followed. 

 I readily admit to being a bookworm.  Anyone who knows me knows that about me.  But for me, as long as it’s good spiritual literature written for the benefit of the reader, it’s not escapism.  Far from it.  For me, it’s fellowship.  You see, in the early creeds, the church proclaimed that she believed in the “communion of saints”.  Protestants, in my experience, haven’t always done a good job of exploring what that means.  Sure, we’ve all heard a few sermons about the “cloud of witnesses” mentioned in Hebrews, but I don’t know that we always remember that a lot of those witnesses wrote/painted/notated what they were witness to.  All good trees bear fruit, and for those that have the gift to produce it, some of that fruit stays with us to be enjoyed for years to come.  

 I said that reading a good spiritual book is like fellowship.  That also goes for listening to great music or looking at great art.  It’s a deeply mysterious and potentially life-changing thing to be communicated to by someone who you’ve never met, who in most cases died hundreds of years ago.  When Thomas Kempis wrote “The Imitation of Christ”, when Kathe Kollwitz sat down to work on her drawings and woodcuts, when Antonio Vivaldi picked up his violin and started the day’s work, I have no doubt that on some level they knew they weren’t just producing a product, a commodity to be sold.  These were some of their deepest ideas, the fruit of their lives ripened by master skills.  They might not have known just how long their works would last (or that a lot of them would be lost for centuries, in Vivaldi’s case), but I’m grateful that these and many others followed their impulses to create. 

 Many, many others, spanning the centuries.  Let’s not forget John Donne, Marc Chagall, Francis of Assisi, Meister Eckhart, Madame Guyon, Eugene Peterson, Andrew Murray, J.S. Bach, Athanasius, Shane Claiborne, Thomas Tallis, George MacDonald, Dante Alighieri, Anthony of Egypt, Miguel de Molinos, El Greco, Andrei Rublev, Arvo Part, Gustave Dore, C.S. Lewis, Sandro Botticelli, Matthias Grunewald, Richard Foster, Conrad Boerma, Thomas Merton, Makoto Fujimura, Carlo Gesualdo… I could go on. 

 I’m so thankful for my spiritual friends.  These aren’t even all of mine (like I said, I’ve been blessed).  I’d love to know who some of yours are.

]]> http://parkwestgallery.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/chagall-and-the-mediterranean/ Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:47:46 +0000 Park West Gallery http://parkwestgallery.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/chagall-and-the-mediterranean/