M.S. Rau hosting major exhibit of Chagall, contemporaries

Musiciens sur fond multicolore by Marc Chagall

Imagine going to an exhibition of works from one of the 20th century’s most noted artists — and if you like, you can take one home.

New Orleans landmark gallery M.S. Rau has a new exhibition, “Dreaming in Color: Chagall and His Circle,” featuring around 30 works by the Belorussian-born French artist and his contemporaries.

The show, which is displayed at the Royal Street gallery, opened on Nov. 1 and runs through Jan. 4, free and open to the public. For those unable to make it to New Orleans, there is also a virtual exhibit on the gallery’s website.

“Chagall’s paintings are windows into a world of boundless imagination and profound emotion,” says Bill Rau, owner of M.S. Rau. “We are thrilled to offer this rare opportunity to experience the magic of his work firsthand. By showcasing Chagall alongside his contemporaries, we hope to illuminate the vibrancy of one of the most pivotal artistic circles of the 20th century.”

As an early modernist, Marc Chagall’s repertory of images — including massive bouquets, melancholy clowns, flying lovers, fantastic animals, biblical prophets, and fiddlers on roofs — helped to make him one of the most popular major innovators of the 20th century.

“There were a number of famous Jewish artists,” Rau said. “Chagall kind of stands above them all” as he is “so universally loved.” He added that Russia, France and the United States all try to claim him as their own.

Part of it, he explained, is that Chagall was “well before his time, the bold colors and wonderful paintings he did… they were extraordinary avant garde,” though as with any new art, they were not appreciated at the time.

About half of the exhibit is Chagall’s works, the rest is from his contemporaries, artists who influenced him and artists he influenced. “They all painted together and influenced each other” Rau said.

There are pieces by Henri Matisse, Kees van Dongen, Louis Valtat, Jean Dufy, Moïse Kisling, Henri Martin, Jane Peterson and more.

Picasso is said to have asserted that “when Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color is.”

The exhibit highlights the use of color as a language that communicates across genres, subjects and senses to forge new artistic realities. The overall focus will be on the themes of love, home and the natural world.

M.S. Rau is able to put together unusual exhibitions and uncover unique finds based on an extensive international network of contacts developed for over a century. This exhibit was assembled from several people around the world, which took a lot of time but “we had fun doing it.”

Many of the pieces come from Chagall’s family. In the art world, authentication and provenance are vital, but because these works had remained in the family, and they had never been for sale, they had not gone through that process. “I wasn’t worried about their authenticity,” Rau said, “but we’re very careful.”

They also had to get export licenses to legally export them, and to import them back if they do not sell.

Born in 1887, Chagall grew up under the shadow of antisemitism. As he became an artist, he wanted to document aspects of the Jewish experience that were disappearing in Russia, rather than hide his being Jewish.

“His paintings were personal,” Rau said, such as the cows and chickens of his village in Russia. Chagall hated Russia for its antisemitism and communism, but in the 1980s Russia decided it wanted to honor him. Rau said he went and saw people he had not seen in 60 years, and “falls back in love.”

While Rau said most Jews figure Chagall is best known for the 12 stained-glass windows he designed for the synagogue at Hadassah Hospital from 1960 to 1962, “arguably his most important commission was when he painted the Paris Opera House ceiling,” and the exhibition has part of that story.

The Opera House, he explained, “is considered by all Frenchmen the greatest building built in France in the 19th century.” In the 1960s, the Minister of Culture, Andre Malraux, decided he wanted to update it and make it somewhat more modern.

That was controversial enough, but when he selected Chagall, it “was a really unpopular decision.” He had three drawbacks, in their eyes — he was a modern painter, he wasn’t French and he was Jewish.

As the controversy raged, Malraux secluded 77-year-old Chagall and his assistant at an army base as they designed and produced the 2,400-square-foot work in 12 panels that were quietly installed over the previous ceiling in the middle of the night.

“When they unveiled it, Rau said, “it was this great ‘wow’.” He said most of the critics changed their mind when they saw the result, an homage to 14 great opera composers and settings around Paris.

The exhibit at M.S. Rau includes Chagall’s original palette from when he was producing the panels. “It’s thick with paint, it is exceptional.” The palette was acquired from Chagall’s assistant, and “we have the documentation.”

The exhibit also includes a painting of a famous scene at the Opera House that was used as the cover of a book about the landmark. The painting and the palette are both for sale, ad “we are really honored” to have them in the exhibit.

Rau recalls a story about Chagall that he heard from a Jewish doctor in Houston who was involved with the building of a large hospital in the 1960s. Since Chagall had done the Hadassah windows, they wanted to try and commission him to do windows for their new facility.

They tried to contact Chagall but never got a response. Finally, that doctor said he heard that Chagall was going to be at a fundraising event in Jerusalem, so he asked for permission to go to Israel and approach Chagall at the event. He did so, and finally was able to introduce himself to the artist. As he said that he was from Houston, Chagall interrupted, exclaiming “Houston? You killed Kennedy!”, then turned around and walked away.

Rau said that Chagall had his sense of morality. “If he didn’t want to work with you, it wasn’t about the money.”

On the other hand, he had jumped at the chance to do the windows at Hadassah. When representatives from Hadassah approached him, his response was “what took you so long?” and “I’ve been waiting my entire life to be asked to serve the Jewish people.”