Marc Chagall

Chagall’s Lithographs on Display at Costa Rica Museum

Chagall’s Lithographs Depict the famous epic story, The Odyssey.

Costa Rican art lovers have entered seventh heaven: for the first time, Costa Rica is hosting a Marc Chagall art exhibit. One of the 20th century’s most acclaimed artists, Chagall’s authentic lithograph paintings, entitled The Odyssey, will be on display at the Calderón Guardia Museum, in Barrio Escalante, beginning October 11.

Marc Chagall was born on July 7, 1887 in Belarus (which, at the time, was part of the Russian Empire). The Jewish youth’s family was poor, though he always described his early years as being very happy. In 1906, a 19-year old Chagall began to study painting with Yehuda Pen, another famous Jewish-Belarusian artist. Chagall was a quick study, and decided to move to St. Petersburg in 1907 to continue his studies.

In St. Petersburg, Chagall joined the “Society of Art Supporters” school and begin to study under Nikolai Roerich, a famous Russian painter, theosophist, and philosopher. While at the school, Chagall became familiar with most artistic styles of the time, finally moving on to the Zvantseva School of Drawing and Painting, where he studied under Leon Bakst, a Russian painter and scene- and costume-designer.

Due to restrictions against Jewish residence in St. Petersburg, Chagall was briefly jailed. He stayed in St. Petersburg until 1910, when he decided to move to Paris, attracted by the avant-garde art scene. There, he buddied up to artistic greats such as Guillaume Apollinaire, Robert Delaunay, and Fernand Léger. Chagall left Paris during World War I, but later returned in 1923. He became a French citizen in 1937, but again left the country in 1941, fleeing to the United States to escape World War II’s persecution against Jews.

Chagall’s art is not easy to categorize, ranging from avant-garde to Cubism and Fauvism. His 82-print lithograph series, The Odyssey was first debuted in 1974, and took great inspiration from Chagall’s trips to Greece in 1952 and 1954. Many believe that Chagall took at Greek approach to humanism, and believed that man is only unveiled in a divine, white light, existing in obscurity and without differentiation.

InThe Odyssey, Chagall visually narrates Homer’s epic poem with rare artistry, illustrating Odysseus and his fellow men in fresh, vivid colors. Chagall used up to 20 layers of paint in each lithograph to create these famous works. The two-volume work debuted in 1974 and 1975, and were created for Fernand Mourlot’s republication of Homer’s The Odyssey. Chagall’s lithographs were printed only 250 times, each copy signed by the artist.

María Dolores Torres, art historian for the Central American University at Managua, marveled at Chagall’s mastery over color and composition. “In this union between poetry and painting, Chagall has managed to transport us to an epic past where all the ideals from Greek culture are fixed, like a conception of the world and life that can serve as a model for present and future generations.”

Chagall’s The Odyssey will be on display until November 10, and the exhibit will be open Monday through Sunday, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. The Calderón Guardia Museum is located 100 meters east and 100 meters north of Barrio Escalante’s Santa Teresita church in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Photo courtesy of La Nacion.

Written by Erin Raub