Chagall

Art News

Contemporary Jewish Museum exhibits Chagall and the Artists of the Russian Jewish Theater, 1919-1949

Marc Chagall - Introduction to the Jewish Theater, (detail) 1920 - Tempera, gouache, and opaque white on canvas. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. © 2008 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.

San Francisco, CA – During the artistic ferment following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, major artists
joined actors, choreographers, writers, and musicians in creating a daring new
theater.   This collaboration gave rise to extraordinary productions with highly original stage designs that
redefined the concept of theater itself, attracting large, diverse audiences and
garnering international critical praise.  In Chagall and the Artists
of the Russian Jewish Theater, 1919-1949,
on view through September 8, 2009,
the Contemporary Jewish Museum tells the little-known and tumultuous story of
this vanguard artistic flowering, which thrived on the stage for thirty years
before being brutally extinguished during the Stalinist
era.