Chagall (Single Jumbo) [Hardcover]

Jacob Baal-Teshuva (Author)

Book Description

Series: Single Jumbo | Publication Date: February 1, 1998

Containing 250 of the most beautiful and significant of Marc Chagall's works, this volume provides a detailed overview of Chagall's oeuvre of seven decades. The book focuses upon often hitherto neglected aspects of the artist's work.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Henry Miller once described Marc Chagall as a "poet with the wings of a painter." The pages of Chagall are filled with images that prove the writer's words true. Though Chagall is remembered primarily as a painter, his artistic vision expressed itself in many other forms, including sculpture, mosaics, and the stained glass windows that grace the Art Institute of Chicago as well as synagogues and churches in both Europe and the United States. The volume affords readers glimpses of his profligate work as well as the opportunity to follow Chagall as he moved from his early years in Russia to Paris, the United States, and back to France. During that time, his painting flirted with the various art movements around him--surrealism and fauvism most notably--but his dominant themes remained constant throughout the seven decades that he made art. Chagall's mysticism, his deep religious sentiment, and his playfulness are revealed in the hundreds of full-color images lushly reproduced in this volume. The commentary provided by Chagall scholar and friend Jacob Baal-Teshuva expertly guides readers through the artist's various moods and media and underscores the passion of belief and feeling that informed all of his artwork.

From Library Journal

A time traveler who left an ancient way of life in a remote Russian village for the sophisticated world of 20th-century Paris and its inner circle of literary and artistic innovators, Marc Chagall (1887-1985) superseded nature through metaphor. He reinvented his past and his dreams over and over as a chronicler of the Jewish experience. Baal-Teshuva, whose previous works include a monograph on Warhol (Andy Warhol 1928-1987, LJ 4/1/93), affectionately conveys the details of the artist's life, his roots in Vitebsk, his lovers, and his many works?in paint, poetry, lithography, ceramics, tapestry, mosaics, sculpture, and stained glass?with the intimacy and naturalness of a friend of 35 years. Written in clear, accessible prose and lavishly illustrated with reproductions that demonstrate the brilliant colors of the artist's palate, this book is an excellent choice as an introductory text for students. Recommended for school and public libraries where there is an interest in this extremely popular 20th-century artist as well as for Judaica and comprehensive special collections.?Ellen Bates, MLS, New York
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Taschen (February 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3822882712
• ISBN-13: 978-3822882719
• Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 9.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,782,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous book!, December 9, 1999

By 

Peter (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chagall (Single Jumbo) (Hardcover)

This is an extraordinary book for every Chagall fan. The quality of illustrations is just wonderful, and if you had only one book to buy on Chagall, this is the one! Don't worry, its not heavy at all; in fact, I would have added more and more pages of never-been-seen work of this incredible artist. The illustrations are colorful, vivid and beautiful, and the biography is very well written and complete. Strongly recommended!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Short, but still very sweet, March 31, 2005

By 

Debbie the Book Devourer "dletour7" (Waltham, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chagall (Great Modern Master Series) (Hardcover)

This book collects some of Chagall's works, mostly paintings, but also mosaics, stained glass windows, and the ceiling of the Paris opera (stunning), into sections describing different parts of his life and career.

The text was intersting and illuminating in very few words, which was good, because that left more room for full-color plates of Chagall's brilliant works! I could just stare at each one for many minutes and get more out of it with each minute! The man was a genius. And the plates are pretty high-quality, so it's easy to really enjoy them.

The only reason I did not give this book five stars was I thought it was a little short, considering the scope of Chagall's work. It would be difficult, indeed, to produce a book that would be completely comprehensive, and maybe the author had a page limitation because of the series he was writing for, but I sure would have liked to see more works presented.

I have some other books on Chagall in the queue: one on watercolors and gouaches, and two books of lithographs. I'll report back on those once I've read and gazed at them.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful gift for fans of Chagall., October 28, 2007

By 

K. Pollock (Findlay, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chagall (Portfolio (Taschen)) (Paperback)

After viewing the book I ordered for my husband, he and I loved it so much, I ordered another for my sister-in-law who also absolutely loved the pictures and stories about one of our favorite artists. It makes a great gift for any Chagall fan.