Resistance, Resurrection, Liberation: Beyond the Existing Readings of Marc Chagall's Crucifixion Paintings
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University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK
2015
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin14279806802021-08-03T06:29:33Z Resistance, Resurrection, Liberation: Beyond the Existing Readings of Marc Chagall's Crucifixion Paintings Horvath, Jennifer Art History Marc Chagall White Crucifixion exile identity affect Sara Ahmed This study deals with a small body of crucifixion scenes that were rendered by the well-known Russian and Jewish Expressionist artist Marc Chagall (1887-1985). It closely reads these works, made between 1937 and 1952 when Chagall lived in exile in France and the United States. Extensive scholarship and The Jewish Museum’s exhibition Chagall: Love, War, and Exile (2013-14), have emphasized ways that these paintings speak to the then-current tragedies and suffering of Jews associated with the Holocaust. This study builds on this established research. Yet, it offers a nuanced reading of the iconographical and compositional strategies that Chagall uses. Here, the lyrical-expressionist style and dream-like spatial qualities of his early modernist works infuses his painted crucifixions with the condition of exile. By emphasizing the circulation of the affects of love and hate through a network of signs, Chagall ties the theme of the crucifixion to a life of perpetual exile and to the sense of not belonging that goes with such a life. As explained in the study, Chagall’s crucifixion scenes relate as much to the suffering of humanity and Jews in the Holocaust as to the hoped-for liberation and subsequent failed promises of the Russian Revolution, to Chagall’s childhood in the Pale of Settlement, and to his lifelong experience of exile and desire to find a place in the world. Five of Chagall’s paintings figure prominently in this study. They include: White Crucifixion (1938), his peculiar paintings of crucifixions with embedded self-portraits including The Artist with Yellow Christ (1938), The Painter Crucified (1941-42), and Self-Portrait with Clock (1947), as well as his triptych Resistance, Resurrection, Liberation (1937-1952). The issues of identity, exile, and citizenship that Chagall explored in these paintings, as well as in numerous other works and writing, hardly belong solely in the province of history. They remain crucial dimensions of life, today. For these reasons, Chagall’s works continue to invite and elicit our attention. 2015-06-22 English text University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1427980680 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1427980680 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
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NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Art History Marc Chagall White Crucifixion exile identity affect Sara Ahmed |
| spellingShingle |
Art History Marc Chagall White Crucifixion exile identity affect Sara Ahmed Horvath, Jennifer Resistance, Resurrection, Liberation: Beyond the Existing Readings of Marc Chagall's Crucifixion Paintings |
| author |
Horvath, Jennifer |
| author_facet |
Horvath, Jennifer |
| author_sort |
Horvath, Jennifer |
| title |
Resistance, Resurrection, Liberation: Beyond the Existing Readings of Marc Chagall's Crucifixion Paintings |
| title_short |
Resistance, Resurrection, Liberation: Beyond the Existing Readings of Marc Chagall's Crucifixion Paintings |
| title_full |
Resistance, Resurrection, Liberation: Beyond the Existing Readings of Marc Chagall's Crucifixion Paintings |
| title_fullStr |
Resistance, Resurrection, Liberation: Beyond the Existing Readings of Marc Chagall's Crucifixion Paintings |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Resistance, Resurrection, Liberation: Beyond the Existing Readings of Marc Chagall's Crucifixion Paintings |
| title_sort |
resistance, resurrection, liberation: beyond the existing readings of marc chagall's crucifixion paintings |
| publisher |
University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2015 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1427980680 |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT horvathjennifer resistanceresurrectionliberationbeyondtheexistingreadingsofmarcchagallscrucifixionpaintings |
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