I'll admit to mixed feelings about the work of Marc Chagall, particularly the first half of his career includes much greatness; an artist who arrives naturally at innovation comparative to the intellectual striving of a Picasso or Matisse, but on the other hand the simple, naive style can start to claw somewhat also. His art didn't really seem to go anywhere as he aged. Perhaps such a form of stagnation exactly the danger to such a natural artist. Below one of the more moving images of the time, The White Crucifixion, from 1938.
2 comments:
I don't know if I am entirely put off by naiveté. What do you think of "Birthday"? To me it represents the simple and dreamy love one secretly seeks despite it's unfashionableness.
I'm certainly not fully put off by naivete, and do love much of Chagall's work- and for the emotion with which his works are imbued. He seems to me. though, to have reached a stylistic comfort zone, and perhaps it was a bit too easy to wallow a little in that naivete. I couyld end up looking more into his stuff & disagreeing with what I feel now, but the second half of his career seems to have added little new to his ouevre.
Birthday is a beautiful work. My instinct is he seems to have used the floating person a bit too easily on other occasions, but I'd have reservations about virtually all artists, & Chagall's best works mean more to me than most all other 20th century artists....the playfulness, pleasure in the art itself, etc.
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