European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 1, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Quot the jewish wedding Quot painted in 1910, captures a slice of jewish life in muted colors. By de Reavis. Staff writer the Schirn Art museum in Frankfurt Germany is showing an exhibit titled Marc Chagall a the russian years 1906-1922,. A show so magnificent that it is destined to be the museum s High Point of the year. The exhibit is the result of the Good a relationship museum director Christoph Quot the stroll Quot shows Marc Chagall walking with his wife Bella. It was painted Between 1917 and 1918. Vitali has with soviet museum officials. Vitali worked years to assemble the show which includes Many works never before shown outside the soviet Union. Viewers May be surprised by much of the work in the exhibit. It includes paintings and drawings far different from the better known works that brought him International Fame. The exhibit documents the Early years in Chagall s Long creative life. It begins with his youth in the russian cities of Vitebsk and st. Petersburg from 1906 to 1910, to his Paris years from 1910 to 1914, and Back to his second russian period in Vitebsk and Moscow from 1915 until he emigrated to France in 1922. Chagall who was born in 1887, died in 1985. His Early paintings of landscapes scenes from the jewish Shell and portraits a All done in subdued colors a Are followed by an explosion of color and shapes during his Paris years. It was in Paris that Chagall discovered modern Western european painting and absorbed the Freedom of styles practice by Matisse and Picasso the Faux its and the cubits. But despite the flood of pm Worful new impressions he was exposed to in Paris Chagall remained faithful to his subjects Russia and the hasidic jewish world of the Vitebsk ghetto. The paintings included his characteristic brightly coloured animals flying lovers bearded old men and fiddlers on roofs. In 1920 Chagall left Vitebsk for the new capital of Moscow after fighting with painters Casimir Malewitsch and Al Lisitzky Lazar Markevich Lisitzky for the directorship of the newly founded Art Academy in Vitebsk. Malewitsch and Lisitzky both stars of the Avant Garde were against Chagall for not being progressive enough and were Able to Man Euver him out of the position. A Chagall threatened by hunger in the lean and chaotic years of civil War and the bolshevik revolution accepted a position As a stage designer with the jewish theater in Moscow. It the jewish theater no longer oppressed As in pre revolutionary times was Able to draw in a Rich tradition while developing its own dramatic style. Chagall using this Freedom designed distinctive backdrops and scenery for the theater while also decorating its Walls and ceiling with the Cosmos of the russian jewish tradition. The lobby of the Schirn museum has a life size copy of the tiny Moscow jewish theater a it seated 90 a with replicas of the original paintings on the Walls. Chagall s work with the jewish theater ended abruptly after differences with the management. His designs and backdrops were deemed too dominating and Stark for the theater management. A year later Chagall moved to Paris. A under Stalin the Avant Gard jell into Disfavour and their works disappeared into the cellars of the museums. The new and More brutal version of russian antisemitism Lead to the closing of the jewish theater. Chagall s paintings found their Way into the Tretjakow gallery in 1950 where they remained heavily damaged irl storage for decades. The Schirn helped restore these works so they could be presented in the manner they Are now in Frankfurt. The Schirn Kun Thalle is open 10 . To 9 . Tuesday through Friday 1-9 . Mondays and 10 . To 7 . Saturday and sunday. Admission is 9 Marks about $5.25 on weekdays 7 Marks on weekends and 24 Marks Tor the duration of the exhibit. 1 further information it an be obtained by calling the museum it i rank Turt 0092998820. August 1, 1991 stripes Magazine 3