OBJECTIVES: STUDENTS EXPLORE fame 6.5• Marc Chagall I and the Village • Alexander Borodin Prince Igor THE COLOR AND SYMBOLISM IN CHAGALL’S PAINTING "When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is." AND LISTEN TO THE Pablo Picasso MELODY OF BORODIN

Welcome to your fifth FAME lesson! In our last FAME lesson we learned about Albert Bierstadt who traveled west by REVIEW: wagon and created sketches of what he saw. When he returned home he created massive landscapes that celebrated  Bierstadt’s the natural beauty of our country and helped establish our National Park System. Bierstadt’s use of colors created natural LIGHT and SHADOW that revealed the time of day and the season. You painted a landscape as well using some very landscapes special watercolor pencils. In your painting you blended colors together to create a majestic scene.

INTRODUCTION: Before we learn about our next artist I want you to close your eyes and imagine a special painting. Imagine YOUR  Students special painting. If you could paint a picture of any subject, what would you paint? Think about a painting that would visualize a tell YOUR unique story. What favorite things would you include? What special people would be in your picture? If painting full of you play sports what objects would represent your sport? Would you include your favorite foods? Characters from personal symbols your favorite books? Think about the places that are meaningful to you: your home, your street, your school, your church. Before you open your eyes imagine all of these things swirling around in one painting. Now open them, but

remember the most vibrant, special objects you saw. We will return to your vision at the end of our lesson. ARTIST: Marc Chagall (1887-1985) This is what Marc Chagall (1887-1985), our fame artist today did: he painted his favorite things, symbols from his favorite stories, the people he loved, and the landscape of his childhood. Born in 1887 to a religious Jewish family in  Raised in Russian the small Russian town of Vitebsk, Chagall was the eldest of nine children. His parents worked hard as herring Jewish village merchants but they were very poor. There was no money for toys so he often created his own and played with the  Poor but happy family dogs, chickens, goats and a donkey. His mother saw his talent and took him to a local artist where for a short childhood time he painted everything in purple! He also used burlap bean sacks for his early paintings, but the work must not  Inspired by have impressed his eight sisters. They used them to cover freshly washed floors and to stuff the holes in the chicken vibrant art life in coop! His childhood was a happy one and images from this time appear throughout his work. Be sure to check out Paris the wealth of videos and audio at smithfame.webs.com on Chagall and edit/add to the biographical and art description as fits your class!

As a young boy he learned about art in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 1910 he traveled to Paris to continue his studies. Paris as we know was the center of the art world for at least a century. Cubism was the art movement at that time. Even though he went to school for art, he always claimed that his real lessons were learned wandering around the

Louvre and observing public exhibitions. Paris represented light, color, freedom and the joy of living. His paintings

become more vibrant and colorful. This is the time he produced some of his best works (examples are Half past three, Art: I and the Village Paris through the window, etc.). He remained there until 1914 when he returned home to marry Bella Rosenfeld. The Chagall marriage was a happy one and lasted 29 years until her death in 1914. Bella is frequently seen“floating about”  Narrative self- in Chagall’s canvases. portrait

 Surreal and Let’s take a close look at one of Chagall’s early paintings, a “narrative self-portrait” called I and the Village. Show Cubist painting. Remember when I asked you to imagine a special painting filled with all of your favorite things? This is influences Chagall’s version featuring memories of his childhood in Vitebsk, images of the Russian landscape and symbols from  Dream-like folk stories.  Filled with symbols from The picture can be broken down into 5 distinct sections. The first at the top right includes a rendering of Chagall's childhood home town, with a church, a series of houses and two people. The woman and some of the houses in the village are folklore and upside down (many say this is Bella who figures in many of his paintings), further emphasizing the dreamlike quality memories of the work. Below that we see a green-faced man who some say is Chagall himself. At the bottom of the work, we  Successful in see a hand holding a flowering branch. Next to that, an object which some say is a child's bouncing ball -- perhaps a his lifetime plaything from Chagall's earlier days. Finally, we see the image of a milkmaid layered atop the head of a lamb - a motif common to Chagall. (Cows, bulls and lambs figure in many of Chagall's paintings as cosmic symbols).

We see the influence of another FAME artist, Pablo Picasso (FAME 4) who was painting at the same time and his cubist style in this painting. Cubism is when you show the subject from many different angles, at one time. This painting has been called a ‘Cubist fairy tale’. We also see surrealistic influences in Chagall’s painting which may remind you of another FAME artist Salvador Dali (FAME 3) who is most well-known for painting melting clocks and ART PROJECT: Scratch dream like landscapes. Does Chagall’s piece look dreamlike? Objects are upside down, things appear to float and Board Press perspective is disregarded entirely. Chagall focuses on COLOR, form and shape. The result is a very emotional work: a visual diary of his life.  Create dream narrative using Chagall was one of the few artists who had the privilege of enjoying fortune and fame while he was still alive and was unique process one of the very few artists to exhibit work at the Louvre in their lifetime. His unique artistic career included paintings, book illustrations, stained glass windows, stage sets, ceramics and tapestries. Each work is full of life with haunting and poetic beauty. Although we see influences from significant movements in modern art he still managed to stay COMPOSER: Russian true to his own style, his heritage, his values, and his experiences. Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) Remember I said we’d return to the painting you imagined? Well you are going to create your own dream narrative MUSIC: Prince Igor using a very unique process. While you are creating your special artwork you will be able to enjoy the unique from POLOVTSIAN melodies of another Russian artist: romantic composer Alexander Borodin and his dramatic “Prince Igor” from the The Polovtsian Dances. Follow art process for directions for this special project! While the paint is drying you can share DANCES the story of “Prince Igor” or orchestra clips posted on smithfame.webs.com.