Chagall and Russian avant-garde leaders at Centre Pompidou
Right after World War I, Paris was not the only city on the European continent to radiate an artistic expression inherited from the troubles of the past. Although its name is less well-known, the influence of the city of Vitebsk in the history of modern art is indisputable. It is the birthplace of Marc Chagall, a major Russian avant-garde artist, who is now in the limelight at the Centre Pompidou. With “Chagall, Lissitzky, Malevitch. The Russian avant-garde in Vitebsk (1918-1922)”, the museum offers to rediscover the work of these three emblematic artists who gave birth to the Vitebsk school in 1918 under the impetus of Chagall. Not only does the exhibition unveil a series of works by the three artists, but also by several of their less well-known students. The exhibition, curated by Angela Lampe, reveals the relationship between Chagall and his two contemporaries, who eventually abandoned his school and appropriated the supremacist movement. Thus last night’s inauguration did not fail to gather fine connoisseurs and collectors around the president of the Centre Pompidou Serges Lasvignes. We could meet Meret Meyer, Chagall’s granddaughter and vice-president of the Marc Chagall Committee. Also worth noting was the presence of designer Hervé Van der Straeten, exhibition curator Olivier Gabet and Catherine Grenier, director of the Giacometti Foundation. This is an art and history lesson not to be missed.
