Product Details

• Directors: Kim Evans
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: January 16, 2001
• Run Time: 52 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B000055XMR
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #113,457 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Chagall is a portrait of portraits, for it studies the art as much as the artist while it explains how Marc Chagall came to create joyous and fantastical paintings, a rarity in the early 1900s. The production's conceit is in following the journey of a young artist who sets out to find out why "the grand old man of French painting" came to paint the way he did. The camera follows him as he visits places Chagall lived and worked, views exhibits, and seemingly ponders installations of astonishing art, including a ceiling painting for the Paris Opera and stained-glass windows that appear painted with light. Stock footage of historical events is interwoven with stills and film showing Chagall at work. The pace, which can seem slow at times, is an asset, for it lingers on his paintings, allowing you to study them. In the end, the conceit works, and "the man of masks" is, at least, partly revealed. --Valerie J. Nelson

Product Description
During his own lifetime, Marc Chagall became a legend--the grand old man of French painting. Born in the Jewish ghetto in provincial Russia, he broke away from the restrictions of poverty and religious constraints to become swept up in the political and artistic maelstrom of the Russian Revolution before moving to Paris, at that time the artistic capital of Europe. Cubism, Expressionism, Surrealism--Chagall learned from all of these movements and rubbed shoulders with many of the great painters and poets of the century, but he stayed very much his own man and developed a unique style which was his hallmark through the years. This important film was completed shortly before Chagall's death and is the only film made about this great artist during his lifetime.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars MYSTIC ARTIST, September 17, 2000

By	Bonita L. Davis (Decatur, Georgia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Marc Chagall [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A flying cow, an artist with seven fingers, two lovers engaged in an intimate kiss but one of them has an elongated neck that resembles a snake and then we see the face of a fiddler, a green face. What in the world are these images doing on a canvas? Is the artist insane or just playing with our minds? If you have come across those images, welcome to the world of Marc Chagall who captivated art lovers for over half a century.

Who is this man? We are given a guided tour of his works and life by an artist who is trying to figure out the same question. He does this by taking us to the places where Chagall worked, introduces us to Chagall's techniques as a painter and explores the impact of his personal life on his art. Born in a Jewish Ghetto in Russia and later moving to Paris, Chagall rose to become the greatest artist of his time.

Many of his critics and even our narrator had problems with his style, his use of light and his lack of explaining what he was seeking to convey in his pictures. Since Chagall feels no need to explain, he is called a Mystic, in a negative since. Mystics of course have their heads in the air and have no idea of what they are doing. Of all the major flaws of this video I would say the incessant need to explain and analyze Chagall takes away from the viewer the ability to make up their own minds. Chagall speaks for himself in his paintings infused with thems from Russia, the Bible and his own sense of whom he is. Of special note was Chagall's work in stained glass a medium which one wouldn't think such a person could be effective since his medium is the pallete and canvas. Overall this is a good video in introducing you to the artistic works of the artist as well as his life. Oh, as a "Mystic" artist Chagall does an outstanding job in touching your spirit through his works that few artists can achieve.