Marc Chagall, and His Paintings 夏加爾其人其畫(huà)

肖文

Marc Chagall was born in Liozne， near Vitebsk， in modern day Belarus， in 1887. He was a Russian-French-Jewish artist of international repute who， arguably， was one of the most influential modernist artists of the 20th Century， both as an early modernist， and as an important part of the Jewish artistic tradition. He distinguished himself in many arenas： as a painter， book illustrator， ceramicist， stained-glass painter， stage set designer and tapestry maker. Widely admired by both his contemporaries， and by later artists， he forged his creative path in spite of the many difficulties and injustices he faced in his long lifetime.

Chagalls early life in the shtetl1 with his Hasidic Jew parents was a strong influence on his work throughout his life. He carried a Russian mysticism， and an intrinsic understanding of and sympathy for his religious roots wherever he travelled. Though open to new ideas， and embracing many elements of the modernist style， of which he was an early proponent， the dreams and realities of his early life ever formed the core of his aesthetics. It is important to note that， unlike some other Jews of his generation， he never tried to hide his connection to Judaism. Much of his work contains the internal dichotomy2 between traditional Jewish art and modernist art.

In 1906， Chagall moved to St. Petersburg， the centre of the Russian artistic world. He studied under Léon Bakst3 at the Zvantseva School of Drawing and Painting from 1908-1910.

Paris was at that time the centre of the modern art world. In 1910， Chagall moved there， drawn to this centre of creative endeavour. Paris then was abuzz with the new art of Cubism， and exhibitions of the work of Cezanne， Van Gogh and early Matisse. He became interested in， and incorporated into his painting， elements of cubism， and also new trends of， of example， futurism and orphism4.

It was during this time that Chagall had his first commercial successes. He became an integral part of what later became known as the Ecole de Paris5. Some of his paintings from this period， like Paris Through the Window， show his very successful attempts to fit into his new milieu， while others， like The Birthday， and I and the Village are filled with nostalgia for his old life in Vitebsk.

After a number of large and successful exhibitions， Chagall went back to Russia to visit his family， and then fiancée， the subject of many of his paintings， Bella Rosenfeld. Unfortunately， he was forced to stay indefinitely in Russia after the outbreak of the First World War prevented his return to France. Chagalls work during this period was dominated， of course， by his thoughts of the war， and death， as seen in War， though also by a nostalgia for his everyday life in Vitebsk， The Fiddler and his love for Bella， in such works as La Mariée and The Promenade. Eventually， in 1923， Chagall returned to Paris， with his wife， Bella.

Chagall travelled all over the world as his reputation of a painter and illustrator of high repute grew. He created etchings for works including The Bible， Gogols “Dead Souls” and “La Fontaines Fables”， later recognised as his finest illustrations.

The terrible events of the Second World War put Chagall in danger. As a high-profile Jew he was put on a list of artists whose lives were at risk from the Nazis， and， fortunately， in 1941 he escaped to America.

In New York， Chagall was a fish out of water， but still managed to forge an artistic life here， where he did not yet speak the language. He forged friendships with Mondrian6 and Breton7， and， represented by the son of Henri Matisse， held successful exhibitions. He also designed large， dramatic and beautiful sets for the ballet， “Aleko”.

But the war was an extremely dark period for Chagall. He was deeply and profoundly distraught by the decimation of his home town Vitebsk， and the news of the concentration camps. The death of Bella in 1944 compounded his grief. The United States were never home to him， and in 1947 he returned to France.

He continued to paint， and also had huge success with stained glass windows. His masterful use of colour and symbolism were strongly praised. Picasso once stated that when Matisse died， Chagall would be the only one who really understood what colour was.

Chagall， throughout his career， incorporated elements from many schools of modern art， including Cubism， Fauvism， Symbolism， Surrealism， Orphism and Futurism. Even though， his work revealed deeper levels of a resonant， lyrical emotional aesthetic， of music and culture， of a deep， intrinsic understanding of Jewish heritage.

In 1985， Chagall died and was buried in France. Chagalls work shows a masterful understanding of colour， and a deep emotional resonance， which is perhaps why his work is still so popular today. His contribution to 20th Century art world is one only very few artists can claim to have made.

馬克·夏加爾于1887年出生在今日白俄羅斯維捷布斯克附近的里奧涅。他是國(guó)際知名的俄裔法籍猶太畫(huà)家，稱得上20世紀(jì)最具影響力的現(xiàn)代主義畫(huà)家之一，既是現(xiàn)代主義畫(huà)派的先驅(qū)，也是猶太藝術(shù)傳統(tǒng)重要的傳承者。他在很多領(lǐng)域成就斐然：繪畫(huà)、書(shū)籍插畫(huà)、陶藝、彩色玻璃畫(huà)、舞臺(tái)布景設(shè)計(jì)和掛毯制作。盡管在漫長(zhǎng)的一生中遭遇到許多困難和不公，他仍堅(jiān)持開(kāi)拓自己的創(chuàng)作道路，受到同時(shí)代及后代畫(huà)家的廣泛贊譽(yù)和敬仰。

夏加爾早年與其信奉猶太教哈西德派的父母生活在猶太小鎮(zhèn)上，這段生活對(duì)他整個(gè)繪畫(huà)生涯都有著巨大的影響。無(wú)論他去到哪里，作品中都帶有俄國(guó)神秘主義色彩，以及對(duì)自己宗教根源的內(nèi)在理解和同情。盡管他積極擁抱新的理念，作品中吸收了他早期倡導(dǎo)的現(xiàn)代主義風(fēng)格的諸多元素，但早年生活的夢(mèng)想和現(xiàn)實(shí)一直是他審美的核心。值得注意的是，他與同時(shí)代其他的一些猶太人不同，從未試圖隱藏自己的猶太血統(tǒng)。他的創(chuàng)作很多都蘊(yùn)含了傳統(tǒng)猶太藝術(shù)和現(xiàn)代主義藝術(shù)的內(nèi)在對(duì)立。

1906年，夏加爾前往圣彼得堡，那里是俄國(guó)藝術(shù)界的中心。1908年至1910年，他在茲凡思瓦繪畫(huà)學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)，師從利昂·巴克斯特。

那時(shí)，巴黎是現(xiàn)代藝術(shù)界的中心。1910年，夏加爾受到巴黎這個(gè)創(chuàng)意中心的吸引，來(lái)到這里。當(dāng)時(shí)的巴黎滿眼是新興的立體主義藝術(shù)，塞尚畫(huà)展、梵高畫(huà)展和馬蒂斯早期作品展接踵而至。他對(duì)立體主義元素產(chǎn)生了興趣，并將這些元素融入自己的繪畫(huà)中，同時(shí)，未來(lái)主義和奧菲主義等一些新的流派也引起了他的關(guān)注。

正是在此期間，夏加爾獲得了最初的商業(yè)成功。他成為后來(lái)人所共知的“巴黎（學(xué)院）派”的重要成員。這一時(shí)期，他的一些畫(huà)作，如《窗外的巴黎》，展示出他非常成功地融入了新環(huán)境;另一些作品，如《生日》及《我與村莊》，則充滿了對(duì)兒時(shí)在維捷布斯克度過(guò)歲月的懷念。

多次成功舉辦大型畫(huà)展之后，夏加爾回到俄國(guó)看望家人和當(dāng)時(shí)的未婚妻——也是他多幅畫(huà)作的主角——貝拉·羅森菲爾德。不幸的是，第一次世界大戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)，他無(wú)法返回法國(guó)，只能無(wú)限期滯留俄國(guó)。自然而然，夏加爾這一時(shí)期的作品主要反映了他對(duì)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)和死亡的思考，正如畫(huà)作《戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)》所呈現(xiàn)的，同時(shí)也有作品表達(dá)了對(duì)維捷布斯克尋常日子的懷念，如《小提琴手》，還有一些則傳遞出他對(duì)貝拉的愛(ài)，如《新娘》和《散步》。1923年，夏加爾終于帶著妻子貝拉回到了巴黎。

夏加爾在世界各地游歷，無(wú)論是作為優(yōu)秀的畫(huà)家還是插畫(huà)師，他的名聲都越來(lái)越響。他為《圣經(jīng)》、果戈理的《死魂靈》以及《拉封丹寓言》等創(chuàng)作了蝕刻版畫(huà)插圖，這些后來(lái)都被公認(rèn)為他最好的插畫(huà)作品。

第二次世界大戰(zhàn)的恐怖氛圍令夏加爾身處險(xiǎn)境。作為知名的猶太畫(huà)家，他被列入納粹的藝術(shù)家黑名單，生命時(shí)刻受到威脅。所幸，1941年，他成功逃到了美國(guó)。

夏加爾不懂英語(yǔ)，在紐約，他如同離水之魚(yú)，與周遭環(huán)境格格不入，但他仍然設(shè)法開(kāi)啟了自己的藝術(shù)生活。他與蒙德里安和布勒東建立了友誼，亨利·馬蒂斯的兒子出面為他舉辦了成功的畫(huà)展，他還為芭蕾舞劇《阿萊科》設(shè)計(jì)了絢麗奪目的大型舞臺(tái)布景。

但對(duì)夏加爾來(lái)說(shuō)，這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)是一段極其黑暗的時(shí)期。家鄉(xiāng)維捷布斯克被毀的消息和各個(gè)集中營(yíng)的傳聞令他悲痛欲絕。1944年貝拉因病去世更加劇了他的悲傷。美國(guó)從未讓他產(chǎn)生家的眷戀，1947年，他回到了法國(guó)。

他繼續(xù)作畫(huà)，在彩繪玻璃窗方面也取得了巨大成功。他對(duì)色彩和象征手法的嫻熟運(yùn)用大受贊賞。畢加索曾經(jīng)表示，馬蒂斯死后，夏加爾將是唯一真正懂得色彩的人。

在整個(gè)繪畫(huà)生涯中，夏加爾吸收了很多現(xiàn)代藝術(shù)流派的元素，包括立體主義、野獸主義、象征主義、超現(xiàn)實(shí)主義、奧菲主義和未來(lái)主義。盡管如此，他的創(chuàng)作還揭示了更深層次的東西，包括引人共鳴的抒情式情感美學(xué)、音樂(lè)與文化，以及對(duì)猶太傳統(tǒng)內(nèi)在的深刻理解。

1985年，夏加爾在法國(guó)去世并落葬。夏加爾的創(chuàng)作呈現(xiàn)出他對(duì)色彩的精深理解，傳達(dá)出深刻的情感共鳴，這也許就是其作品至今仍深受歡迎的原因所在。他對(duì)20世紀(jì)藝術(shù)界的貢獻(xiàn)之大，沒(méi)有幾人能與之比肩。