Marc Chagall

by Elisabeth Pacoud-Rème, Maurice Fréchuret, Markus Müller, et al.

Book Overview

Marc Chagall is one of the 20th century's favorite artists, known and admired for his rich palette, his inventive approach, his accessible subjects, and the deep traditions behind his work. Combining... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0918471702
• ISBN13: 9780918471703
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
• Length: 236 Pages
• Weight: 2.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful introduction

It's hardly a catalogue raisonné, but there's plenty to enjoy here. After about 20 pages of introductory essays, we get another 35 or so that sketch Chagall's life, from his early career until his death in 1985. The next 160 pages, roughly, reprint paintings from many parts of his career. Each page is self-contained, either a good-sized, gorgeous reproduction or a short essay on the painting across the fold. Printing is impeccable. Colors are saturated and dense, on paper that's coated but glare-free, bright, and opaque. It's all you could look for in an art book. One might ask more in a book of Chagall's art, though. This focuses on his paintings, omitting his wonderful lithos, including the series for Daphnis And Chloe. And, among the paintings presented, chronological order is sketchy at best. It's not always an improvement when an editor imposes some new order on an artist's work, after the artist's own life has already done so. Well, maybe that's why I found this recent book on the discount table. The artwork has so captivated me that I have not yet paid much attention to the text. The little I've seen looks helpful and interesting, though. I expect that Chagall scholars have better resources, but as a casual viewer interested in this artist's varied body of work, I enjoy this hefty collection of gorgeous reproductions. -- wiredweird