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CHAGALL, MARC. "THE SOLDIER DRINKS".
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Life & career of Russian Jewish painter, focusing on artistic significance of 1912 portrait.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Life & career of Russian Jewish painter, focusing on artistic significance of 1912 portrait.
Paper Introduction:
Marc Chagall (1887-1985) was a painter, graphic artist and stage designer whose unique style never belonged to any particular twentieth century school of art but drew on many of them. Chagall's Jewish upbringing, the political status of Jews in Russia, the background of Russian folk art and the events of Russian history had an enormous impact on his work. The interest in historical events and in serious problems are not often guessed at because of the lyrical, joyous nature of Chagall's work. But Chagall, because he primarily invented his own style, drew on every possible source in the world that surrounded him. He was an artist who "absorbed the tremors which shook the world around him and translated these into his language" (Kamensky 41). Chagall's 1912 painting The Soldier Drinks was painted during his first stay in Paris, and it
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. This brief sketch of Chagall's influences demonstrates someof the complex sources and influences that went into creating a work suchas The Soldier Drinks. 2 -9. . Chagall's Jewishupbringing, the political status of Jews in Russia, the background ofRussian folk art and the events of Russian history had an enormous impacton his work. But it is alsosomething much greater than the sum of all these parts. Thus, while heabsorbed many of the technical lessons of the Cubists and others, he neveridentified himself with their goals. Chagall has warnedthat the viewer should not make the mistake of thinking that the soldier isdrunk (Greenfield 43). At that point, he began to take onthe influence of the post-Impressionist painters, such as Paul Gauguin,whose excellent draftsmanship and unusual color choices attracted the youngChagall (Kagan 18). He was an artistwho "absorbed the tremors which shook the world around him and translatedthese into his language" (Kamensky 41). It is the result of the combination ofpersonal memories, memories of fear and contentment, an overlay of folk andCubist styles, a democratically-oriented exploration of a theme, and theproduct of the influences of Jewish and Russian culture. Catalogue of an exhibition at the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 16 January - 8 September, 1991. The interest in historical events and in serious problems arenot often guessed at because of the lyrical, joyous nature of Chagall'swork. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1985.Greenfield, Howard. As he put it, "for the Cubists apainting was a surface covered with forms in a certain order [while] for mea painting is a surface covered with representations of things in a certainorder in which logic and illustration have no importance" (Chagall, quotedby Lynton 21). Chagall's family belonged to the Hasidic sect,which taught that "fervor and joy are as important" as the study of theholy books if one wishes to achieve communion with God (Kagan 11). The soldier's reassembled torso isshadowed and becomes a concave space that balances against the protrudingsamovar. Chagall. New York: Abrams, 199 .Kagan, Andrew. But Chagall, because he primarily invented his own style, drew onevery possible source in the world that surrounded him. One of themost interesting influences on Chagall was his friendship with the Frenchpoet Blaise Cendrars. Petersburg. Marc Chagall (1887-1985) was a painter, graphic artist and stagedesigner whose unique style never belonged to any particular twentiethcentury school of art but drew on many of them. His family was Jewish and lived among theother 25, Jews of the town in the shtetl, as the Jewish section wasknown. The awkwardness of having a totalstranger who is engaged in war living in the intimacy of the family couldproduce, in the right kind of soldier, a marshallek of the type Chagallfrequently painted. Such a man would combine the clear understanding ofthe external dangers with a self-directed humor and an awareness of theirony of the whole situation. Chagall adopted fromthe Jewish lore that grew up around this sense of community a numberallegorical character types that appear repeatedly, in different forms, inhis paintings. One such figure was the marshallek, "the personification ofhigh-spirited exuberance and truth, the joker who, like a jester, can holdup a mirror to authority" (Kamensky 41). Instead, he found very specific support among writers. "Chagall's Early Work in the Soviet Union." Marc Chagall: The Russian Years 19 6 - 1922. Marc Chagall. But, inside, the mood, as Chagall said, is set by thesoldier and the woman, who almost appear to transform the broad plane ofthe table into a dance floor. He is seated at a table in front of a Russiansamovar in which tea was made, and a small teacup is visible on the tablein front of him. Living with a Jewish family who would, afteryears of persecution, think of soldiers in a far less friendly context,such a man would have acknowledged both situations (the war and thepersecutions) by means of his ironic attitude toward the circumstances. The artof Paris struck Chagall as being full of "freedom and energy" but somehowlacking in "human resonance" (Lynton 24). Living with the dominant group of Russians and yet living physicallyapart from them, the Jews of Russia preserved their own culture. This is the kind of almost cartoon-like language that would exertthe broad democratic appeal that Chagall (and Cendrars) thought wasimportant in painting. Marc Chagall. But, on arriving inParis, Chagall had, at first, "looked in vain for guidance towards what hehimself aspired to among the artists and exhibitions" (Lynton 24). The entire picture is a "psychic construction" of the kind Chagallbelieved a painter should create. Out ofthe misery of oppression, the ugliness of the little town, and thecontinuous struggle for survival, the Jews established a specialrelationship with their constricted way of living: "This vibrantidentification with the community bestowed on the inhabitants a true commonculture, a way of life of defiant vitality . Chagall, who neverexperienced military service himself, described the painting as a memorybased on the experience of Russian families who were required to lodgesoldiers during the Russo-Japanese War (19 4-19 5). Instead, Chagall wanted it understood that "the real moodof the painting is signaled by the tiny soldier with a girl on his knee" atthe bottom edge of the painting (Greenfield 43). These were the same bright colors and simpleshapes (as well as an earthy sense of humor) that Chagall would use as thebasis of his mature art. Though Jews could live anywhere in Vitebsk, in Moscow and St.Petersburg and other major cities they were forbidden to live anywhere butin their own districts (Kagan 11). The subject, though itwas painted in Paris, was from life in Vitebsk. Here is an indication of the need to take thesituation seriously even while enjoying oneself in the respite from battle. The work was always infused withthe sense of joy that he derived from his religion. 4 -8.Lynton, Norbert. But he is safe inside the domestic circle, temporarilyseparated from the outer dangers. Chagall was born in the thriving but provincial industrial town ofVitebsk in northwestern Russia. In this painting, war is definitely on the outside. The scenes of life in Vitebsk were to form a continuous threadrunning throughout Chagall's long career. But, within a few years, he was very eager to move toParis, at that time the center of the art world, in order to study and seea wider variety of painting than was available to him in Russia. Chagall used similar terms such as "psychicconstruction" to describe the combination of the fantastic and the real,the realistic and the abstract in his own art (Lynton 25). The Soldier Drinks is a painting with an ominous title that iscontradicted by the cheerful appearance of the picture. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1985. In his early twenties, Chagall, who had always been working at hisart, began to study in St. Cendrars, as a poet, aimed for what he called"psychic unity," a combination of internal and external factors in the workof art that cannot be entirely explained in rational terms (Cendrars,quoted by Lynton 25). The reorganization of the soldier's body parts allows for theplacement of his hands in such a manner that they will attract the viewer'sattention but will not occupy the center of the painting and, thereby,overwhelm the balance between the symbolic samovar and the soldier. His cap flies off, and he points at the cupas if to indicate that he had not been drinking anything stronger than teaand was just as amazed as the viewer to see these two tiny figures on thetable. Works CitedCompton, Susan. New York: Abbeville, 1989.Kamensky, Alexander. Since viewers know the situationthat inspired Chagall in this picture, seeing that the soldier is not athome is easy. Another"impulse from Cendrars" was the poet's desire to move art toward "thewidest possible democratic appeal," and this, he and Chagall believed, wasa matter of selecting the right elements of poetic or painterly language(Lynton 25). Chagall was 17 at thetime, and "the experience of having soldiers living in his home made astrong impact on his imagination" (Compton 172). At no point in his career didChagall ever want to omit the human element from his art. In 191 ,a generous patron gave Chagall, in return for a single painting and asingle drawing, enough money to spend the next four years in Paris (Kagan19). Catalogue of an exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 11 January - 31 March, 1985. Chagall went on to assimilatesome of the most sophisticated concepts in twentieth-century painting andmake them an intrinsic part of his own work. Stylistically, the painting demonstrates some of Chagall's debt tothe Cubists. Yet the soldier's right thumb also seems to gesture to the war sceneoutside the window as if to ask who would blame him for being drunk inthose circumstances. But this aspect ofChagall's background was also "intermeshed with the living tradition of thelubki, the Russian folk art" (Kamensky 4 ). Chagall's 1912 painting TheSoldier Drinks was painted during his first stay in Paris, and it reflectsthe influences he had assimilated during his early life as well as those hewas exposed to for the first time in Paris. The rough houseshape that is pictured in the red looks as though its roof is being hit byan exploding shell. This is the kind of response to the individual and to the politicalsituation in which Chagall specialized. which still had room foran ironic look at its own situation" (Kamensky 41). The soldier has a look that could be read assurprise mixed with amusement. This art, which could be seeneverywhere in the region where Chagall was born, was characterized by a"naive, colourful, pictorial tradition [with a] clear foreground/backgrounddichotomy" (Kamensky 41). In the case of The Soldier Drinks, for example, Compton pointsout that, in the upper of the two square windows located between thesoldier and the samovar, is "a hot red which lights up the blackened night-- a combination which Chagall used to suggest war" in other works (Compton172). He wears his overcoat and hat while he sits at the tabledrinking tea. Frankfurt: Schirn Kunsthalle, 1991. "Chagall 'Over the Roofs of the World.'" Catalogue of an exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 11 January 11 - 31 March, 1985. But, aside from these few details, Chagall was not in the habit ofexplaining his paintings, and their meanings have to be worked out from thecontexts and from comparisons with other works (Greenfield 38).Comparative efforts produce information regarding the way Chagallfrequently repeated certain forms or colors in relation to particularsubjects. In Paris, the young painter developed his mature style as he came incontact with the wider world of artists and writers. But, if first impressions of his painting leavethe viewer with the impression that it is somehow at the same level ofcomplexity as folk art, this is a mistake. The Jews in Russia had long beensubjected to periods of extreme repression alternating with relative peaceand simple discrimination. While most of the picture is presented in the naive termsthat derive from folk art, the figures of the samovar (symbol of the home)and the soldier (symbol of the dangers outside the home) are balanced bymeans of the breakdown of their forms.
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