Last Friday, Michelle H. Barnes posted a poem, "Chagall's Muse," which she had written for her husband on their anniversary. The subject is Marc Chagall. His first wife, Bella, with whom he was very happy, is the speaker.
After viewing a video Michelle shared. I remembered a book I had purchased from a book fair in elementary school, Famous Paintings by Alice Elizabeth Chase (©1951). It was a favorite book, but I never read it, I simply spent time with the paintings, one of which was by Marc Chagall.
Here's the Chagall piece, "Snowing," which the caption lists as owned by St. Louis, City Art Museum.
Since my book is titled, Famous Paintings, I assumed "Snowing" is a well-known piece. Funny thing, though, I spent a number of hours looking at Chagall's paintings and drawings online, and I didn't see "Snowing" in any of the sources I looked at. I checked the St. Louis Art Museum's site and there was only one Chagall piece listed and it is titled. "Temptation" (a.k.a. "Adam and Eve"). I did find "Snowing" online in one place, and that was scan of a 1987 postage stamp from Gambia that featured the work!
A reverse search in TinEye, using the picture in my book, came up with 0 hits! I next contacted the helpful librarians at the NH Institute of Art's Teti Library. They attempted to locate the painting for me, but had no luck either. "Given how difficult this work is to find, we think that it might be part of a private collection," they concluded. Although they included links to other source materials, I think I've spent enough time on this wild goose chase and will let it remain a mystery.
The following, though, is a more positive result of a day or two spent immersed in Chagall.
Since Chagall lived until 1985, his work is still under copyright (expires 70 years after Chagall's death). His works won't be in the public domain until 2055, which means I can't legally use his paintings to illustrate a poem. Instead, I decided to illustrate my poem in the spirit of a Chagall painting using bright primary colors, a photo of him taken in 1910 that is in the public domain, and a few of the symbols he repeatedly used in his paintings. I made Chagall's face green since he had painted himself with a green face! (Click here for examples.) It actually works better without the real thing because I'm the speaker in the poem, and anything I create could only be "like" Marc Chagall!
As for my use of rhyme again this week, it's proof that not every exercise leads to improvement! I promise, no more rhyme!
Julie is hosting the Round-Up this week at The Drift Record. Have a safe holiday weekend!
What a marvelous post of your search, that old book that does not seem to be correct anymore, and your own poem centered by your wish to BE like Chagall. The couplets each might stand alone with one of his works, Diane. It could be a picture book with each couplet, a painting, and additional information. I appreciate the creativity!
ReplyDeleteInteresting concept for a picture book, Linda!
DeleteOdd as it looks, I'm sure that Snowing must be in the St. Louis collection. There's an acknowledgement to them in the 1989 edition of Hoffer's "The understanding of music" and a concert based around Snowing in 2011 - https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/16772/snow_and_sympathy_among_musical_inspirations. As a librarian, who still has a lot of material on card catalogues, I know how confusing it can be. The St. Louis Art Museum does mention that out of 33,000 items that they hold, over 3,000 are online (that of course does leave the other 30,000 still missing from the online catalogue). Enjoyed your post!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Margaret! The 2011 concert seems to be the most convincing piece of information thus far. I'm still confused as to why St. Louis doesn't promote "Snowing" more, but, I don't really know anything about museum operations and goals.
DeleteIt does seem strange as Chagall's such a major artist, and the picture has evidently been popular in publications. I work in the music department of one of the largest academic libraries in the UK, and 2/3 of our scores are still only on a card catalogue. This includes a lot of important material. But it's as much as we can do to keep up with putting newly acquired material online, and just add some of the card material throughout the year.
DeleteI suspect that St. Louis probably doesn't have the same amount of new material coming in a year as we do, but has similar issues with balancing staffing / adding new acquisitions / and trying to add old material on to the system. Perhaps your quest for Snowing might push it up the list of things to be added soon :-)
I understand the limitations of time and staffing--I work in a library!
DeleteI enjoyed reading about your fascination with Marc Chagall. I love his work as well. If we could write like he paints, the piece would sing, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I need to work on letting go and embracing the absurd (flying cows? unnaturally colored faces?). And, I do like his angels. Angels and wings everywhere!
DeleteLove this post! Your search was very interesting. When I first saw "Snowing," it was not familiar at all (and I've seen lots of Chagall since researching him for a story years ago). How cool to discover such a rare painting.
ReplyDeleteLove the way you illustrated your poem (the green face is classic Chagall). You've captured the childlike, imaginative, poetic nature of his work so well in your poem.
Thanks, Jama! Was your story ever completed? Published? Do tell.
DeleteI'm happy my post set you on this acrobatic, polychromatic, symbolic and Chagallic treasure hunt, Diane... even if it did lead to more mystery. The treasure is your poem, rhymes and all.
ReplyDeleteThe rhymes are a bit much, but once I got started with the "ic" rhymes, I couldn't stop!
DeletePerhaps the museum can't reproduce the work for some reason. What an excellent painting. Chagall was a master, and I would love to share some of that whimsy, just the way you did, Diane.
ReplyDeleteI love that word, whimsy, and it's exactly what you get with Chagall--whimsy on the surface, but love and history and all that good stuff underneath!
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