My Life

Marc Chagall

ISBN 10: 0241331412 / ISBN 13: 9780241331415

Published by Penguin Books Ltd, 2018

About this Item

Marc Chagall, Penguin Books Ltd. Marc Chagall's colourful, hilarious, dream-like autobiography Chagall was born in Witebsk in White Russia, the son of a herring merchant who lived opposite a laundress and a chimney sweep. After the Revolution, while waiting for emigration papers, he wrote his autobiography at the age of 34. My Life reads like one of Chagall's paintings- emotional, fragmentary, humorous, colourful and dream-like, soaked in nostalgia for Jewish small-town society, familiar to us from The Fiddler on the Roof. It combines a colourist's eye for detail, an artist's passion for life, a satirical sense of humour with a backdrop of Belle poque Paris and revolutionary Russia. The character sketches are magnificent. Chagall produced 50 illustrations which accompany the text. The first English translation of My Life was published in 1965 and it has been in print ever since.Marc Chagall was born in White Russia and brought up in the Jewish community of Witebsk. He was a prolific artist, producing whimsical, dream-like paintings, stained glass windows, stage sets, ceramics and tapestries. He studied art in St Petersburg and he became Commissar of Arts in Witebsk after the Bolshevik Revolution. In 1923 he settled in Paris and, apart from evacuating to New York during the Second World War, he lived in France until his death in 1985. In the 1950s, Picasso predicted that 'Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what colour really is'.

Seller Inventory # 9780241331415-RETAIL

Bibliographic Details

• Title: My Life
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0241331412
• ISBN 13: 9780241331415
• Binding: Paperback
• Weight: 0.136 kilograms
• Book Type: Paperback

About this title

Synopsis

''As fresh, poignant and individual as his paintings'' Lucy Beckett, TLS, Books of the Year 2018

''Here is my soul. Look for me here; here I am, here are my pictures, my roots''

Marc Chagall, one of the twentieth century''s most popular artists, grew up in a close-knit, bustling Russian-Jewish community, the son of a herring seller. In his colourful, dreamlike autobiography, written as he was about to leave his homeland for good in 1922, he vividly brings to life the memories and places that fed into his unique work, from his shtetl childhood to revolutionary Russia and Belle Èpoque Paris. Filled with Chagall''s own evocative illustrations, My Life is as warm, joyful and humane as his art.

''Chagall writes as whimsically as he paints: lovingly ofother people, humorously and lovingly of himself'' Daily Mail

''Anyone who likes Chagall''s paintings will enjoy this book:the work of an unteachable, unspoiled folk artist'' Evening Standard