DMA will be only American stop on Chagall exhibition tour

They will honor the 19th century artist with the exhibition, a fundraiser, and a lecture.

Courtesy of Kent Wang

The Dallas Museum of Art will host a collection of Marc Chagall’s work in an exhibition that opens on February 17.

DALLAS — The Dallas Museum of Art is playing host to a collection of work by Marc Chagall. The exhibit is entitled “Chagall: Beyond Color” and will feature paintings, sculpture, ceramics, and collage by the famous artist.

The purpose of the multimedia display is to explore the relationship between space and volume in Chagall’s pieces.

Chagall was an early modernist Russian 19th Century artist who worked many of his artistic years in France.

The Russian artist broke with the traditions of his religion by depicting biblical subjects and themes in his art. His work is recognizable because of his extensive use of color, Jewish themes, and his paintings of circus members.

Chagall once said, “When I am finishing a picture, I hold some God-made object up to it -- a rock, a flower, the branch of a tree or my hand -- as a final test. If the painting stands up beside a thing man cannot make, the painting is authentic. If there’s a clash between the two, it’s bad art.”

Featured in the display will be over 140 pieces, including his paintings, collages, sketches, drawings, and sculptures.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is a display of costumes that were used in the 1942 performance of the ballet, Aleko. Chagall designed the costumes for Aleko, which premiered in September 1942 in Mexico City and was later performed by the Ballet Theatre of New York. This is the first time that the costumes have been seen since being used in the 1942 ballet production.

Chagall’s works are on a traveling international tour, but the Dallas Museum of Art is the only location in the United States where you will be able to visit the show.

The exhibition is co-organized by the DMA and the La Piscine Museum in Roubaix, France. “Chagall: Beyond Color” is curated by Olivier Meslay, the associate director of Curatorial Affairs and The Barbara Thomas Lemmon curator of European Art.

The Dallas Museum of Art League has a fundraiser each year, and this year will be “Chagall: Bouquets of Love.”

It has been reported that Chagall’s granddaughter, Bella Meyer, will be attending the fundraiser held on March 25.

On February 15, the DMA will be hosting an early preview of the exhibit with tours and videos of Chagall.

This will be held from 6 p.m. to midnight as a part of the museum’s Late Night program.

The DMA will host exhibition lecture “Chagall: Art and Religion” on April 25 at 7:30 p.m.

The lecture will be led by Olivier Meslay and Rabbi David Stern, Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El of Dallas.

The exhibition will open at the DMA starting February 17 and will be on display through May 26.