Marc Chagall was born in Vitebsk Jewish quarter in Russia. Coming from a modest background, he grew up in a shtetel in Belarus. His childhood was impregnated with religious culture and traditions.
In 1906, though it was difficult, he studied painting in his native town in Yeouda Penn's studio, a jewish painter who taught him the first elements of his art. In 1907, he left for St Petersburg where he signed up for the Imperial School of Encouragements, which he left in 1908. In 1909, he met Bella Rosenfeld, daughter of a jeweler family, she was a student in Moscow. Right away began between them a deep and exclusive love.
In St Petersburg, some art lovers started to get interested in his work. Thanks to the patron Vinaver, Chagall arrived in Paris in 1911 and settled in La Ruche where Jean-Paul Laurens, Fernand Léger and Modigliani were already living. He also met Max Jacob, André Salmon, Guillaume Apollinaire and Blaise Cendrars. He went quite a lot to "La Palette" and "La Grande Chaumière" academies. In 1912, he made his first exhibition at the "Salon des Indépendants". In 1913, Chagall took part of the "Salon des Indépendants" in Amsterdam. He made his first personal exhibition in 1914, in Berlin.
This year also, he made a trip to Vitebsk to visit his family and his fiancée but the war prevented him from going back to France.
In 1915, he married Bella, their daughter will born one year later. In 1917, he was appointed Commission member for the Arts by Lounatcharsky, minister of art and culture in Russia, whom he met in Paris.
Chagall, then, dreamt of making of his native town an artistic centre. Then he managed the new Vitebsk academy of art, opened on the 28th January 1919. In 1920, Chagall left Vitebsk for good, and settled in Moscow where he met Alexeî Granovsky, the manager of the Kamerny jewish theatre, where he designed the scenery.
In 1921, in Moscow, with his family, he taught drawing art to war orphan.
During summer 1922, he left Russia and started writing his autobiography "My Life". In 1923, he went back to Paris via Berlin and learnt the engraving technique. In Paris, with Bella and Ida, when he found back his studio, all his paintings had disappeared. There were more than 150. They were sold during his absence.
In 1926, the art dealer Vollard asked him to illustrate Gogol "Âmes mortes" (Dead Souls), La Fontaine's Fables, and then "The Bible" which gave him the opportunity to go to Palestine in 1931.
Chagall went to Holland in 1932, Spain in 1934, Poland in 1935 and Italy in 1937. In 1937, he became a French citizen.
When World War Two broke out, Chagall and his family took refuge in Blois before joining André Lhote in Gordes in Provence, in the South of France. During a visit in Marseilles, he was taken in a roundup, then released by order of the United States consul. Aware of the danger, he left France for New York via Spain.
In 1944, Bella died. The next two years were very difficult. Lonely, he settled in a little farm a few hours away from New York. With difficulty, he got back to work. In 1945, he designed the costumes and the scenery for the Fire Bird (Oiseau de Feu) at the New York Opera House for Balanchine. In 1948, after a short visit in Paris, in 1946, he came back to France for good, his studio was devastated.
In 1952, he married Valentine Brodzky and settled in the south of France.
He also did works for the State : wall decorating for the Jerusalem Parliament, the ceiling of Paris Opera House, wall painting for New York Opera House, but also stained-glass windows for Metz cathedral, Reims Cathedral and for the Synagogue of the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.
In 1970, a retrospective of his work took place in the Grand Palais in Paris.
In 1973, his museum "Musée National biblique Marc Chagall" opened in Nice and consecrated his work.
He died in 1985 in St Paul de Vence, he was 97.



Pochoir technique



The pochoir is a technique making use of templates. It was popular at the beginning of the twentieth century, for instance in Art Deco. To arrive at subtle shades of colour, an ingenious but time-consuming and very complicated method was later invented by Jacomet, which produced stunning results. In 1957-58, Chagall released a volume of thirteen pochoirs, Couleur amour.

The edition of 320 copies must have kept Jacomet in business for months. It appeared on hand-made paper made especially for the occasion.