Circle of Friends: Marc Chagall and Company

“[I]n La Ruche you either came out dead or famous,” Marc Chagall said of the Parisian refuge of bohemian artists from Eastern Europe that he called home during his first Paris period. French for “the beehive,” La Ruche buzzed both with creativity and camaraderie during Chagall’s time there. The circle of friends Chagall formed around himself influenced not only his art but widened his spirit as he witnessed a world far bigger than the Vitebsk village he left behind. In Paris Through the Window: Marc Chagall and His Circle at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, visitors gain access to Chagall’s circle of friends and get a sense not of a “hive mind,” but rather of a unity born of diversity sharing the same hardships and passions. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Circle of Friends."

[Image: Marc Chagall, French (born Belorussia), 1887-1985. Paris Through the Window, 1913. Oil on canvas, 53 1/2 x 55 3/4 inches (135.8 x 141.4 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, By gift 37.438. © 2010 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris.]

[Many thanks to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for providing me with a review copy of the catalog to, the image above from, and other press materials for Paris Through the Window: Marc Chagall and His Circle, which runs through July 10, 2011.]

[A REQUEST AND A CONTEST: Please consider making a donation to help the people of Japan. Some of the organizations doing good in that terrible situation are Doctors Without Borders and The Red Cross. Please consider helping in some way. And if you do send a donation, mention it in the comments to this or any other post and I’ll put your name in a contest to win a copy of See/Saw: Connections Between Japanese Art Then and Now by Ivan Vartanian and Kyoko Wada (my review here). Honor rules apply, so you do not need to send “proof” of a donation. Also, the contest is open only to U.S. residents (but anyone can donate, of course). Contest ends at midnight EDT on April 1, 2011 and a name will be pulled from a hat the next day.]

Yo, Pablo: Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Who are the artists that people who know nothing about art know? Van Gogh? Michelangelo? Picasso? For museums trying to bring traffic through their doors, drawing in the non-art lover is more important than ever. Shows such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris offer enough for the devotee of modern art to sink their teeth into while being accessible enough for newbies to cut their teeth on it, too. In addition to presenting a great artist to the public, Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris provides a textbook example of how museums can maximize their own collections to maximize their profits and chances for survival. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Yo, Pablo."

[Image: Tea Time (Woman with a Teaspoon), 1911. Jean Metzinger (French, 1883-1956). Oil on cardboard, 29 7/8 x 27 5/8 inches. Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris.]



[Many thanks to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for providing me with the image above and press materials for Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris, which runs through April 25.]